America the Beautiful

MATERNA. Katharine Lee Bates. Samuel A. Ward.

First Verse:

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.

Second Verse:

O beautiful for pilgrim feet, Whose stern, impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness!

America! America! God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law.

Third Verse:

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 every gain divine.

Fourth Verse:

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.

May 18, 2009