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Patriotic Poetry
I've long been a dedicated patriot who loves her country and am proud of the U.S.A. and all her accomplishments. I'm also thankful for our servicemen and women who were either drafted or volunteered to serve our country on behalf of her citizenry. I shed a tear as I remember and honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. I am proud to wave, carry and fly Old Glory as a symbol of our freedom. It is because of my true love of country why I revere all the songs about America, which in essence, are poetry. I hope you enjoy just some of my offerings on this page dedicated to patriotism and our flag. God bless America!
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 stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through 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 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 fully glory reflected now shines in 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 home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory 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.
National Anthem of the United States of America originally “Defence of Fort McHenry” by Francis Scott Key (1779–1843) written Sept. 14-16, 1814
I pledge allegiance
to the Flag
of the United States
of America,
and to the Republic
for which it stands,
one Nation
under God,
indivisible,
with liberty
and justice for all.
America the Beautiful
Written by Katharine Lee Bates as a poem in 1893 and first published
in 1895, it was combined with music composed by church organist
Samuel A. Ward in 1910. Bates wrote the poem after a journey to the
top of Pikes Peak in Colorado, saying the views there inspired her.
The song was a contender for the U.S. national anthem, along with “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and “The Star Spangled Banner”. In 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a law that made the “Star Spangled Banner” our national anthem.
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with
brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country
loved,
And mercy more than life.
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with
brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
God Bless America
Written by Irving Berlin during World War I in 1918 and revised by him in the run up to World War II in 1938. The song takes the form of a prayer (with lyrics noting that "as we raise our voices, in a solemn prayer") for God's blessing and peace for the nation ("...stand beside her and guide her through the night...").
America
(My Country 'Tis Of Thee)
Samuel Francis Smith, an American Baptist minister, wrote the lyrics to "America" in 1831 while a student at the Andover Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts. The use of the same melody as the British royal anthem is a contrafactum which reworks this symbol of British monarchy to make a statement about American democracy.
My country tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died!
Land of the Pilgrim's pride!
From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring!
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love.
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture fills
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song.
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our father's God to, Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King!
God bless America, land that I love,
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam,
God bless America,
My home sweet home.
While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free.
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:
God bless America, land that I love,
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam,
God bless America,
My home sweet home.
God bless America,
My home sweet home.
Flag Song
Written by Lydia Avery Coonley, likely around 1896, when she penned a large body of work called "Our Flag with the Stars and Stripes", a wonderful patriotic cantata for school and choir, which can be viewed in its entirety here
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Out on the breeze,
O'er land and seas,
A beautiful banner is streaming.
Shining its stars,
Splendid its bars,
Under the sunshine 'tis gleaming.
Hail to the flag,
The dear, bonny flag,
The flag that is red, white and blue.
Over the brave,
Long may it wave,
Peace to the world every bringing.
While to the stars
Linked to the bars
Hearts will forever be singing:
Hail to flag,
The dear, bonny flag,
The flag that is red, white and blue.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword:
His truth is marching on.
Refrain:
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read the righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on. [Refrain]
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of all before his judgment seat;
O be swift, my soul, to answer him; be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on. [Refrain]
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me;
As he died to make us holy, let us die that all be free!
While God is marching on. [Refrain]
American patriotic song that was written by abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe in 1862 during the American Civil War.
