Katharine Lee Bates

America the Beautiful

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 for freedom beat
    Across the wilderness! 
America! America!
    God mend thy 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!