---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Unknown
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 16
number: 12
published: 1913-10
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Unknown, "O My Father," *Improvement Era* 16, no. 12 (October 1913): 1224–1225.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera16012unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera16012unse
start_page: 1224
end_page: 1225
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1913-10)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera16012unse
  publication_year: 1913
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1913, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# O My Father

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Martha. 8, 7, 8, 7, D

O my Father

Friedrich von Flotow, 1847

Father,

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thou that dwelhst In the

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glor-ious place! When shall I re - gain thy presence, And a-

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<!-- page:1225 -->

O MY FATHER

1 4

1225

I i ,

first pri - me - val childhood, Was I nurtured near thy side.

For a wise and glorious purpose

Thou hast placed me here on earth, And withheld the recollection

Of my former friends and birth, Yet ofttimes a secret something

Whispered, "You're a stranger here;" And I felt that I had wandered

From a more exalted sphere.

I had learned to call Thee Father,

Through Thy Spirit from on high; But until the Key of Knowledge

Was restored, I knew not why. In the heavens are parents single?

No; the thought makes reason stare! Truth is reason; truth eternal

Tells me I've a mother there.

When I leave this frail existence,

When I lay this mortal by, Father, Mother, may I meet you

In your royal courts on high? Then, at length, when I've com- pleted

All you sent me forth to do, With your mutual approbation

Let me come and dwell with you. —Eliza R. Snow, 1845.

THE PRESIDING BISHOP'S BUILDING, Home of the Improvement Era.