O say can we see, by the Gone’s early flight,
What so loudly we failed at the mornlight’s past gleaming,
Whose flawed stripes and strifed scars,
through the perilous plight, Our wan hearts, we watched,
stirred and valiantly screaming.
And the rifle’s dread glare, bullets bursting in air,
Gave truth in our sight that our flag was not spared.
O say does that scar-mangled banner yet save
Our land of the free and the home of the brave?
by Amanda Gorman