Her original 1893 poem was revised through the years to become what is our national anthem in 1911. We only learn the first and last verses. Here are the two important verses you didn't learn:
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!
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!
Ray Charles always sang it with that verse about all success being nobleness and heroes with mercy. We're a long way from that America. (We haven't even made it to the brotherhood from sea to shining sea part.) Let's work for it.
PS
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