---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Crystal, James
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 18
number: 9
published: 1915-07
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'James Crystal, "Utah: A Poem," *Improvement Era* 18, no. 9 (July 1915): 828.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1809unse
  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: improvementera1809unse
start_page: 828
end_page: 828
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1915-07)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1809unse
  publication_year: 1915
  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 1915, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# Utah: A Poem

<!-- page:828 -->

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