Original "Materna" hymn written by Samuel Ward in 1882.
words by Katherine Lee Bates, written on top of Pikes Peak Colorado.
C / / G | / / C / | / / / G | D / G / |
C G / C | G / C / | F / C / | F G C / |Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,
Oh beautiful for pilgrim feet whose stern impassioned stress.
A thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness.
America! America! God mend think ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law.
Oh 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 ev'ry gain divine
Oh 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.