America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is an unofficial alternate national anthem of the United States. With words by Katharine Lee Bates[?] (composed in 1893 with new editions in 1904 and 1913) and music by Parke W. Hewins[?], both of Massachusetts.
(The official anthem of the United States is The Star Spangled Banner.)
America the Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies,
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
O beautiful for heroes proved
O beautiful for patriot dream
O beautiful for halcyon skies,
O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
O beautiful for glory-tale
O beautiful for patriot dream
Words by Katharine Lee Bates; Music by Parke W. Hewins
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!
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!
In liberating strife.
Who more than self the country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
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!
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought
through wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!