Star Spangled Banner

I think most people learn in school that there are more verses to the Star Spangled Banner than just the first verse, but then forget later on in life. I believe there are actually four verses (Written by Francis Scott Key), but my hymn book only contains three and I just love the pictures each verse paints in my mind when I sing them.

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, 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 thru 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?

Notice the first verse is actually a question that I roughly translate to mean "Is the flag still there?" and from a military stand point "Did we win the battle? Defend the fort? Stand our ground?" etc. It is somewhat disturbing to me to realize we usually only sing the first verse and it ends in such uncertainty. I can better relate to the feelings that inspired the first and second verses from my experiences last year. Here is the second verse.

On the shore, dimly seen thru 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!

The second verse answers the question in such a beautiful way. I remember the first days of OIF when we were constantly on the move and every time I woke up, I would wonder what had happened while I was sleeping. Of course it was always such a wonderful reassuring feeling to know that our defenses had held.

The third verse, which is the one missing from my hymn book, describes the enemies defeat.

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!

The four verse is one of my favorites though.

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men 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 Pow'r 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!

This nation has truly been blessed by our Heavenly Father and I hope we as a nation never forget that. Every time I sing or hear this song, especially in its entirety, I am filled with the Spirit.