The Goddess of Song: A Poem

THE GODDESS OF SONG. (For the Improvement Era.)

The goddess of song is ruled out of existence By princes of progress and modern display; She aids not our life, but she offers resistance

To all our great interests of profit and pay.

She once was a creature of beauty and glory, And had sweet communion with angels above But gone are those days and forgotten the story That taught man her mission of mercy and love.

The loftiest peaks of the mountain of learning The goddess of song has inspired men to scale; And when from those bleak, icy crags he was turning, She taught him that courage and toil would prevail.

This friend of the world was received so unkindly, While calling the soul to her lofty ideal, That man in his sorrow must wander on blindly In search of the truths that she came to reveal.

Her concordant tones will again be heard ringing; The scorn of the world cannot stifle her voice Her anthems of love she again will be singing, And men in her presence again will rejoice.

Our Miltons may die and our Shakespeares may perish, But music divine is the heart-throb of life A pulse that the whole world will yet learn to cherish. For concord must reign o'er the kingdoms of strife.

We'll gaze on the forms of her future creations — They'll shine with a splendor that age will increase She'll build her a home with the friends of the nations,

And conquer the world with her ballads of peace. Alfred Osmond. Provo, Utah.