7/5/10

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER





Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad strips and bright stars through 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 thro' 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 in 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!
***
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!
***
Oh, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-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 doth wave,
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

7/4/10

INDEPENDENCE BELL - JULY 4, 1776

There was a tumult in the city
In the quaint old Quaker town,
And the streets were rife with people
Pacing restless up and down-
People gathering at corners
Where they whispered each to each,
And the sweat stood on their temples
With the earnestness of speech.
***
As the bleak Atlantic currents
Lash the wild Newfoundland shore
So they beat against the State House
So they surged against the door
And the mingling of their voice
Made the harmony profound
Till the quiet street of Chestnut
Was all turbulent with sound.
***
Will they do it? dare they do it?
Who is speaking? What's the news?
What of Adams? What of Sherman?
Oh, God grant they won't refuse!
Make some way there! Let me nearer!
I am stifling! Stifle then!
When a nation's life's at hazard
We've no time to think of men!
***
So they surged against the State House
While all solemnly inside
Sat the Continental Congress
Truth and reason for their guide
O'er a simple scroll debating
Which though simple it might be
Yet should shake the cliffs of England
With the thunders of the free.
***
Far aloft in that high steeple
sat the bellman old and gray
He was weary of the tyrant
And his iron-sceptered sway
So he sat with one hand ready
On the clapper of the bell
When his eye could catch the signal
The long-expected news to tell.
***
See! See! The dense crowd quivers
Through all its lengthy line
As the boy beside the portal
Hastens forth to give the sign!
With his little hands uplifted
Breezes dallying with his hair
Hark! with deep, clear intonation
Breaks his young voice on the air.
***
Hushed the people's swelling murmur
Whilst the boy crys joyously
Ring! he shouts, Ring! Grandpapa
Ring! oh ring for Liberty!
Quickly at the given signal
The old bellman lifts his hand
Forth he sends the good news making
Iron music through the land.
***
How they shouted! What rejoicing!
How the old bell shook the air,
Till the clang of freedom ruffled
The calmly gliding Delaware!
How the bonfires and the torches
Lighted up the night's repose
And from the flames like fabled Phoenix
Our glorious liberty arose!
***
That old State House bell is silent
Hushed is now its clamorous tongue
But the spirit it awakened
Still is living-ever young;
And when we greet the smiling sunlight
On the fourth of each July
We will ne'er forget the bellman
Who, betwixt the earth and sky,
Rung out, loudly, "Independence";
Which please God shall never die!
UNKNOWN


Everyone have a nice 4th of July
Remember our History
Freedom is not free!