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Sea to Shining Sea

I remember when I was a boy,
surrounded by flag waving crowds.
Everyone knew the song's words.
I swelled with American pride,
learning to sing along loudly.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Surrounded by flag waving clouds,
my family and I stood watching;
the brown horses stepping high,
and soldiers marching strong,
loved by and loving their country.

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Everyone knew the song's words,
and stood ready to proclaim
their love for God and country,
when asked the eternal question,
"Oh say can you see?"

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

I swelled with American pride,
when I raised my right hand high,
promising to protect and defend,
and stand up for the banner,
though my life could end.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Learning to sing along loudly,
and tell others America is great
is what I now give my family.
May we always love this country.
May God bless the land of the free.

-MSgt Lou Marin
18 Years in Blue

The Star Spangled Banner
By Francis Scott Key