In a kind of homage to this landmark tribute to Francis Scott Key, author of our National Anthem, I found myself almost unconsciously singing the words aloud to "The Star Spangled Banner."

As I sang I actually heard and felt each word with an intensity I'd never before experienced, as well as its keen relevance to our current moment in history. For the first time. I realized he was asking a question to the Americans fighting for our freedom.

 

"O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight

O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?"

He was asking whether our flag was still flying.  Had it survived the battle? Had we won the fight to preserve our independence and freedom?

 

"And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,

And then, when through the glare of rockets the flag could still be seen, signifying our success in battle, he asked a second question of future Americans — He was asking US:

"O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

The question ringing through the years, every time we sing or hear "The Star Spangled Banner" calling out to us from the earliest days of our hard-won victory for freedom, is: Have we preserved the freedom and democracy for which our forefathers had so valiantly fought?

Was the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge an omen, or at least a warning that OUR freedom and democracy, too, may have fallen into rough waters, and we may once again find ourselves asking:

"O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

            #        #        #        #        

"The Star-Spangled Banner" 

      by Francis Scott Key

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, 

What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming, 

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight 

O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming? 

And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air, 

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there, 

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave 

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?