For as long as I can remember, the “Star-Spangled Banner” has held a prominent place in my church’s hymn book. It is more than simply a patriotic song. In its entirety it speaks not only of country but also of God and therefore naturally belongs with other sacred hymns. I have sung all three verses all of my life and therefore was surprised when I discovered that many Americans have never heard the second and third verses—and are even surprised to find out they even exist.
When we sing only the first verse, we are left with the question, “Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” Given the vicissitudes of our present lives and politics, what is the answer? When we sing all the verses, the song answers its own question. Here is Francis Scott Key’s composition as he originally penned it while standing on the deck of an enemy ship, our flag under siege through a danger-fraught night:
“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, thro’ the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets’ 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?
“On the shore dimly seen, thro’ 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 on 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.
“Oh, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand, Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation; Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n rescued land Praise the Power that has 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.”
‘Nuff said.
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