A Verse for the Fourth
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.
As a friend reminded me recently, the better-remembered verse is a question, which is almost always left unanswered.
But today, what is our answer to the question "O! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave?"