America the Beautiful

America the Beautiful  
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward
  

 
 
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! 

 O beautiful for pilgrim feet 
 Whose stern impassioned stress
 A thoroughfare of freedom beat 
 Across the wilderness! 
 America! America! 
 God mend thine every flaw, 
 Confirm thy soul in self-control, 
 Thy liberty in law! 

 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! 

 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! 

 O beautiful for halcyon skies, 
 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! 

 O beautiful for pilgrims feet, 
 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! 

 O beautiful for glory-tale 
 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! 

 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 
 Till nobler men keep once again 
 Thy whiter jubilee! 





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