I thought I start a thread on this incredible poet.
#210 - To the Pioneers
By Eliza R. Snow
Hail ye mighty, noble chieftains!
Hail ye faithful Pioneers!
Pow’rs unseen your footsteps guided,
Twas Jehovah led you here.
CHORUS.
Zion’s banner – Freedom’s ensign,
Broad and gloriously unfurl’d;
Waves amid the Rocky Mountains –
Heav’nly beacon to the world.
From our birth-place, home and country,
Lo! a people brave and free;
Driv’n by men – by God’s directed
Here, in search of liberty.
In the hiding place of Israel –
In the chambers of the west;
Crown’d with nature’s rich abundance,
In the valleys we are blest.
Justice here directs the sceptre –
Truth, and love and friendship meet;
Smiling peace, here downy carpet,
Proffers to the stranger’s feet.
Here let virtue be respected –
Industry and useful toil –
Youth and innocence protected –
Like the plants of heav’nly soil.
Brigham Young, the Lord’s anointed,
Love’d of heav’n, and fear’d of hell;
Like Elijah’s on Elisha,
Joseph’s mantle on him fell.
Mighty men compose his counsels –
Inspiration makes them wise;
None can circumscribe the measures
Zion’s counselors devise.
Here the hosts of Israel gather –
Abram’s seed from ev’ry land;
Thro’ the Priesthood’s light preparing
With the Lord of Hosts to stand.
God will come to bless his people –
Jesus Christ and Joseph too;
Come to introduce a scenery
Great and glorious, grand and new.
Composed 24 July 1851
