Feminine 101

Oh, say can you see,

Have you heard all the talk?

Much has been said of late

Of my home and the rock,

The bulwark, on which it’s built.

“It crumbles, it wavers,” they mock.

.

By the dawn’s early light,

I see and I think not.

What Key saw so long ago,

And what his song has taught.

That our people, our country,

Has, of sterner stuff, been wrought.

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What so proudly we hailed

As the end of our nation,

Is but another step,

Another bested tribulation,

That strengthens, that bolsters,

Our fearsome reputation.

,

At the twilight’s last gleaming,

This verse was penned,

To a man in chains

Key’s nation would send

Him to the enemy ship

For one of her own to contend.

,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars,

Saw her children secede

And at Gettysburg prevailed,

For the chained her sons bleed. 

Stood she at a court house,

‘Neath her watch, Lee would cede.

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Thru the perilous fight,

Many thought even then,

That she couldn’t possibly stand.

That the devices of men,

Would bring her to ruin,

Would force her to bend.

.

O’er the ramparts we watched

While men with brown skin

Waged war on her settlers,

Wept over many a sin.

That proud people we now call

Brother and fellow citizen.

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Were so gallantly streaming?

Those dear, bedraggled stripes

Watched a nation rebuild

After foes’ countless strikes.

Does it still wave, my friend?!

Stronger for all her plights!

.

And the rocket’s red glare?

Did it make us quail

When her sons at Nomandy

Fell, but did not fail?

Should we dishonor them

By calling her frail?

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The bombs bursting in air,

Could not bring her to a knee.

Could the schemes of man,

Politicians, possibly?

But one leader after another,

Proved how tough she could be.

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Gave proof through the night

Through the smoke and gray,

Of stricken towers in rubble,

Though mourning, didn’t sway.

Instead she stood taller,

We the People would repay.

.

Over and over she’s proved,

That whatever might dare

To harm her children,

Or bring them despair,

When the smoke clears, 

Our flag is still there.

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Children of the land of the free,

Let no fear hold you slave.

Our hist’ry claims, repeatedly,

And our fathers long in the grave–

They ensured we are free.

The least you can do is be brave.

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