Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/209

 And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air. Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; O! 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 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 on the stream; 'T is the star-spangled banner; O! long may it wave O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

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 wash d 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.

O! thus be it ever! when freemen shall stand Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation! Blest with vict'ry 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.