Utah

Utah. UTAH. (For the Improvement Ei a ) BY T. E. CURTIS. "Utah, the morning breaks! Over the fields and lakes Beauty herself awakes, Sweet with her song; List how it swells, and fills Thy fertile vales and hills, Till every bosom thrills, Buoyant and strong. Borne on the wind thatTblows Fresh from the summer snows, Sweet with the songs of those Musical rills; Wild with the harmony Of keyless melody; Sweet with the breath of the Blossoming hills. Born of thy rills and leas; Born of thy hills and seas; Like a strange voice on these Deserts of sand; Born of a thousand throats, In a wild strain of notes, List how it swells, and floats Over the land. Patriots, have we not Seen o'er this garden spot Regeneration wrought? Deserts, to yield, Like a scourged enemy, To the hostility Of mighty industry Marching afield?

704 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Thou art a gem, my land, Glittering on the sand; By that heroic band Of pioneers Found; where the golden grain Gladdens the sunset plain And, amid toil and pain, Polished in tears. Not that thy soil may boast Homage from coast to coast, Art thou beloved the most; But from thy dawn, That God has chosen thee Out of obscurity, And set thy destiny Upward and on. Loved for thy fruitful land Plucked from the desert sand, Where truth, and virtue, and Liberty reign; Loved for thy towers that rise Kissing the sunny skies, Born of thy sacrifice, And of thy pain! Loved for thy lily, white! Loved for thy dawning, bright! Loved for thy truth and light Shining afar! Loved for thy muse and song! Loved for thy battle strong— The right against the wrong— Mightiest war! Let every hill and plain, Through all the mountain chain, Echo the glad refrain Of thy sweet song; Let every land and clime, Down all the reach of time, Ring with thy theme sublime— Right over wrong. Thou art a beacon light, Piercing the cloud of night Where the chaotic white Seas never sleep; Lighting to liberty All who look up to thee, Out of the mass of the Riotous deep. Bursting the limit band Around thy smiling land, Fresh as thy meadows and Pure as thy rills; Thy sons, and daughters thine— Lights heaven made to shine— Grow like the stately pine Crowning thy hills. Utah, thy noble sires, Of whom no story tires, Planted these lofty fires ' Here in thy breast; And, with the standard, free, Of righteous liberty, This mighty destiny Here in the west. Out of the flames they fled! Over the snows they bled, Leaving, ofttimes, their dead Midway the flight; Somewhere, new soils to break! Somewhere, new homes to make! Somewhere! for conscience' sake, And for the right. Over the sunset crest Into the rocky west, Out of the land they best Cherished, they trod; Giving back good for ill; Giving their blood to spill; True to their country still, True to their God.

UTAH. 705 Flung to the desert zone, Like the leaves autumn blown, Into a land unknown; Desert and snow Pointing the path they trod: Justice, the traitor's rod, Comfort, the rock and sod, Glory, their woe. Such were those noble ones! This is the blood that runs Down to thy loyal sons, Setting aflame Each patriotic breast, Queen of the sunny west, So nobly manifest Unto thy fame. Now, with our growing powers! Now, with the burden ours! Now, that our country flowers! Sons of her soil! Shall we stand by and shun Duty, and see undone Triumphs our fathers won, Born of their toil? While there's a wrong to right! While there's a foe to fight! While there's a soul to light Unto the truth! On! to the battle line! Let every virtue shine! Truth's mighty sword is thine, Noblest youth! Crowding the storms before, For they still blackened o'er, Mark how the flag they bore— Pride of the brave— In the first gleam of light Rose like a rainbow bright O'er yonder mountain-height, Ever to wave. Like the old covenant Born in the firmament, Waving o'er Zion's Tent Here in the west; Proud of each noble son; Proud of the battle won, Out where the golden sun Sinks to his rest. In her blue, starry zone, Still o'er thy valleys flown, Whence to the world is thrown Liberty's light; Thy country's honor thine, May thou, oh Utah mine, Down through the ages shine Constant and bright. Salt Lake City, Utah.