The Mormon Apocrypha

As tomorrow is the spring equinox, I wanted to share a poem by Orson F. Whitney about the beauty of Spring. Monody . Gone from my heart is the sunlight of gladness,  Y Gone from my soul is the music of yore;  For mine eyes are oft dim with the warm dews of sadness,  And I sigh for the presence of one gone before. In the springtime, and spring of her life was she taken,  When the pitying tears of young April were shed O'er the slumbering germlets of May, to awaken  The sentinel flowers to vigil the dead. And the loveliest blossom that e'er fell from Eden,  The fairest, most fragrant in purity's wreath, When the spring-heralds welcomed the life-giving season,  Was slain by the frosts of the winter of death. Ah! many to spare were our hearts better willing.  Than the soul in whose beauty all others were blest But "death loves a bright mark," and ever is filling  His graves with the spirits of those we love best. Their spirits? Not so; tis but cl...

 I wanted to end this month with a short poem from "Harp of Zion." It is about the importance of obedience. Obedience Obedience is the common lot of all!  No being is exempt, not even Christ  Our Lord. Down through all grades, above.  Below, amongst all worlds, cherubim,  And seraphim, and angels round the throne.  Stand in their place and give obedience.  Through delegated power, to those above  Them, each subservient to the other's word,  Until they reach the great Elohim. And he, who in this low probationary State learns not obedience through the things he Suffers, will have to pay the penalty Of his neglect, and have again to come Through other spheres to do his Father's will.

While looking at Keepapitchin, another LDS Blog, I came across this poem about the book of Mormon that interested me. It describes the book in an almost mystic sense, mentioning ancient ruins and forgotten civilizations of Old. I hope you enjoy this poem as much as I have and check out  Keepapitchinin  while you are at it. Sonnet on the Book of Mormon By Clinton F. Larson (This future noted Mormon poet was in 1940 a missionary serving in the New England Mission) The ruins murmur on unceasingly To testify there was another day … This western hemisphere has known a glory That we know little of, except to say: ‘I felt their grandeur in the backward look …’ They had a scripture from Omnipotence: So from the dust, from them to us, the book Came down, spanning timeless decadence To tell us of the nations and the forms That have gone down beneath consuming time; What temporal monument, against the storms, Can hold steadfastly in artistic rhyme? But Mayan ruins speak in scriptural flo...

Earlier this week I went over John Lyon's life and some of his work from "The harp of Zion." I felt that I have not shared enough of his poems and that Lyon's work deserved another look. Eulogy To Miss Eliza R Snow Eliza Snow is the queen of the muse; For the tones of her mystic Lyre Would soothe the rage of the savage breast, And the fainting heart inspire!  Well may the Saints rejoice, and sing Her sweet numbers as they flow;  From east to west search this world around, Who sings like our sister Snow? Her strains of heavenly rapture sweet, With valorous deeds engage;  When fired by wrongs and oppressive might, She sings like a Grecian sage!  In Herculean strength, her verse is strung; Her words, like a giant's blow.  Would kill the blackest venomed heart : — None sing like our sister Snow! A friend of man, and right is she, And a foe to priestcraft's hu'e.  Her satire keen would pierce the heart; Her pathos melts like fire. Alike o'er desert, hill, a...

There have been many great poets in LDS history, and John Lyon deserves to be numbered as one of them. Born in Glasgow Scotland, Lyon became a weaver's apprentice at the age of seventeen. He got married in February of 1826 and had his first child that September. He had twelve children total, with seven living to adulthood.  In 1837, John Lyon and his family met some missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and a few years later in 1844, after reading the book of Mormon and attending some religious sermons, was baptized into the church and ordained an Elder. In 1849, he received a letter from Orson Pratt, calling him to become to serve as a missionary and President of the Worcester area in England, serving from 1849 to 1851. The next year he was called to move Utah to gather with the Saints, finally making his way to Salt Lake City in 1854. That same year he was ordained to the seventy. He also joined the Deseret Dramatic Association and the Universal Scient...

Among many other things, Orson F. Whitney was a poet. I already shared one of his poems, but I was inclined to share more, from allegories to dramatic retellings of moments of the restoration, he truly covered a wide variety of topics with his poetry. The Mountain and the Vale There's a mountain named Stern Justice, Tall and towering, gloomy, grand.  Frowning o'er a vale called Mercy,  Loveliest in all the land. Great and mighty is the mountain, But its snowy crags are cold,  And in vain the sunlight lingers On the summit proud and bold. There is warmth within the valley, And I love to wander there,  'Mid the fountains and the flowers, Breathing fragrance on the air. Much I love the solemn mountain. It doth meet my somber mood.  When, amid the muttering thunders, O'er my soul the storm-clouds brood. But when tears, like rain, have fallen  From the fountain of my woe, And my soul has lost its fierceness,  Straight unto the vale I go; Where the landscape...