Utah: A Poem

Utah We love fair Utah's smiling vales, And snow-capped mountains high That waft their soft, refreshing gales To cool the summer sky; We love her rivers, brooks and lakes Where trout dart to and fro; Where flocks of wild fowl to the brakes For rest and shelter go.

We love her landscapes, fresh and fair, Bedecked with pretty flowers, Where warbling birds of plumage rare Enchant the wooded bowers: We love to see our children sweet Romp on her fields, at play; They mind us of our joy complete, When we were young as they, O happy Utah, favored place, More than all lands below, Reserved for us by heav'nly grace Where we could thrive and grow; While earthquakes and tornadoes dire Their thousands oft destroy, Immune from their terrific ire We rest in peace and joy. We sow and plant from year to year, With surety of success, While others sow and plant in fear Of failure and distress; And here men throw no dreadful bombs Their fellowmen to scare, Nor wreck our churches or our homes And those assembled there. With God and nature on our side We need not fear nor frown; With truth and virtue for our guide We live life's troubles down. Then let us thank God's saving grace And kind, directing hand That gave to us a home and place In Utah's favored land.

And let us thank the pioneers Who paved the way that we Their children might in later years Such wondrous blessings see; And that the Lord inspired their mind To leave their native land And all their earthly ties behind. James Crystal american fork, utah