The Star Spangled Banner
By Francis Scott Key 1814

Let us look at America’s national anthem this week. Few know there are three additional verses penned for this song. You are welcome to sing all the verses but since this is a journaling site let us also write out the answers to three questions.

1 ~ What does the first verse mean to you?
2 ~ Write down the most memorable 4th of July you have had.
3 ~ Write down some things you can do to ensure the United States of America stays strong and firm.

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 thru 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?

Now for the second verse. You should answer these three questions.

1 ~ What does the American flag mean to you?
2 ~ What are your plans for this years 4th of July?
3 ~ Write down what you believe the phrase ‘half conceals, half discloses’ means.

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! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Now for the third verse. You should answer these three questions.

1 ~ Our nation was born out of a desire to be free and with that desire came sacrifice. Write today about sacrifice and why it is so powerful.
2 ~ Write down what you believe the phrase ‘terror of flight or the gloom of the grave’ means.
3 ~ Journal about how the United States of America is a land of freedom and a 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!
Now for the fourth verse. Answer the following three questions

1 ~ Journal about our nation’s forefathers. What kind of men and women do you believe they were?
2 ~ What was the ‘Power’ that made and preserved us a nation according to our national anthem?
3 ~ Did you know that in our nations anthem it is penned ‘In God is our trust’ and what does that mean to you?

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!

Spend the rest of this week journaling about our nation’s pledge ~ The United States of America. And together we give our pledge.

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.

Keep journaling!