Monday, May 01, 2006
Star-Spangled Banner
O 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, 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 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 in the stream:
Tis 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 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 shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
It's a poem about war. About watching the enemy bomb your country in a battle and wondering, hoping, that your flag will stay up. That you'll keep your country and your freedom.
I'm not sure what "Nuestro Himno" is about. Especially with the rumors of changing the lyrics to remove references to bombs and blood. The bombs and blood were kind of the point. The USA fights back against invaders. And so far, we've always won.
What was the first dramatic moment after the fall of the World Trade Center and the collapse of part of the Pentagon? The display of the Star-Spangled Banner. It (the song and the flag) says we can't be defeated easily. The flag rises from the ashes or survives the rockets and bombs. America survives.
We are a country born from war. We have freedoms other nations either dream about or dread. In that, we're unique. People have fought for the defense of this peculiar country. People died. The very least we can do is honor the martial existance of our country in our anthem.
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Update: from Xavier:
http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/2006/05/our-anthem.html
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