The Earth Fell Too

STScI NASA

When the earth was framed
Brilliantly to be
Near God, it was placed
For Adam and Eve

Then... the fall with a plan
To save all of mankind
A planetary change and
A Savior ours to find

I just published a book!  Earth- Bound for Glory
Check it out at Smashwords.
"When the earth was framed and brought into existence and man was placed upon it, it was near the throne of our Father in Heaven...But when man fell, the earth fell into space, and took up its abode in this planetary system, and the sun became our light.  When the Lord said- "Let there be light, " there was light, for the earth was brought near the sun that it might reflect upon it so as to give us light by day, and the moon to give us light by night.   This is the glory the earth came from , and when it is glorified it will return again unto the presence of the Father, and it will dwell there, and these intelligent beings that I am looking at, if they live worthy of it, will dwell upon this earth. Journal of Discourses, 17:143

Hands of Persecutors Persist

Hands of persecutors persist
And try to overpower
Yet they elevate us to resist
As the Lord strengthens us in that hour

Each time they undertake
To lessen us...we increase
When they try to destroy or break
The Lord strengthens the feeble knees

Ever in proportion
To the power Satan enlists
We receive a greater portion
Of Light and intelligence



“Every time they persecute and try to overcome this people, they elevate us, weaken their own hands, and strengthen the hands and arms of this people. And every time they undertake to lessen our number, they increase it. And when they try to destroy the faith and virtue of this people, the Lord strengthens the feeble knees, and confirms the wavering in faith and power in God, in light, and intelligence. Righteousness and power with God increase in this people in proportion as the Devil struggles to destroy it.”

President Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe (1954), 351.

At Certain Sacred Times Angels Come

At certain sacred times
God has sent forth His angels
To instruct and minister
His chosen, pure, and faithful

Adam was taught the atonement
Mary... of whom she would carry
The shepherds were given the announcement
These visits were extraordinary

One came unto the Savior
That night in Gethsemane
To offer heaven's comfort
The most significant visit of any...

Angels have come to our day
To restore God's good news again
Unto a book, one showed the way
As prophets of old, too, did descend

At history's crowning events
Is it any wonder...
Angels were found present
To proclaim that for which we hunger

Imagine the sleeping Elijah
Despairing to live no longer
Receiving comfort in trial
Unto becoming faithfully stronger

Imagine 12 Apostles
Standing together in a circle
Fatigued in a foreign land
Too exhausted for the next hurtle...

Imagine the prophet, Brigham Young
Traveling through a desert place
Speaking in an unknown tongue
To those hostile before his face

Imagine being surrounded
By an ominous and angry army
And having your eyes faith opened
Unto horses and chariots of fire sent for disarming

Imagine angels blessing
Those quite ordinary
The weak and distressing
Assisting them to daily tarry

Oft though... manifestations
Come quietly and unseen
Heaven and earths...sublime interactions
Spiritual sustenance to those in need

When do the angels come?
Invisibly in our midst
To the faithful in God's kingdom
They are there... when weighed down to the utmost

In our early days of growing
We may have had days like unto Kirtland
With inspiration richly flowing
And the ways of the world all but distant

Then... comes the days of struggle
Like unto the dark Nauvoo years
Presented with tests to juggle
From disappointments to evil pressing near

Perhaps we wish to recapture
The days of idealistic convictions
When there were moments of rapture
That calmed soaring constrictions

Perhaps now we feel surrounded
By what attacks our good home
Struggling to stay well grounded
To what was nourishingly once known

Know... that midst these tribulations
What was once felt will come again
Like unto the pioneer migrations
When they felt the carts pushing them instead


Bruce C. Hafen
When Do the Angels Come?
Ensign, April 1992, 12
click on the above title to go directly to lds.org and read the article

"Think of the angel who came to comfort the sleeping Elijah when he was in such despair that he wished to live no longer. (See 1 Kgs. 19:4–8.) Or recall when Joseph Smith “saw the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb, … in foreign lands, standing together in a circle, much fatigued, with their clothes tattered and feet swollen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus standing in their midst, and they did not behold Him. The Savior looked upon them and wept.” (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 2:381; italics added.) The Prophet also “saw Elder Brigham Young in a strange land, … in a desert place, upon a rock in the midst of about a dozen [hostile] men. He was preaching to them in their own tongue, and the angel of God standing above his head, with a drawn sword in his hand, protecting him, but he did not see it.” (Ibid.; italics added.)"

"For an unforgettable picture of unseen angelic armies, think of Elisha’s young servant, who cried when he was surrounded by an ominous army, “Alas, my master! how shall we do?” Answered Elisha, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” Then Elisha said, “Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” (See 2 Kgs. 6:15–17.)"

"President J. Reuben Clark eloquently captured the blessing of unseen angels in the lives of ordinary, devoted people in his masterful sermon, “To Them of the Last Wagon.” President Clark recognized the “mighty men” who led the early Saints, but he reserved his most reverent tribute for “the meekest and lowliest” found in “the last wagon in each of the long wagon trains.” Out in front of these toiling caravans were “the Brethren,” for whom “the air was clear and clean and … they had unbroken vision of the blue vault of heaven.” But, in contrast, “back in the last wagon, … the blue heaven was often shut out from their sight by heavy, dense clouds of the dust of the earth … [which made] the glories of a celestial world [seem] so far away.”

"Even though some of the early brethren had seen “in a vision, the armies of heaven protecting the Saints in their return to Zion” (History of the Church, 2:381), President Clark mentioned angels only once. After describing the grinding frustrations of lame oxen, broken hubs, and sick children in the last wagon, he spoke of a pregnant mother trying to breathe through heavy, choking dust. “Then the morning came when from out that last wagon floated the la-la of the newborn babe, and mother love made a shrine, and Father bowed in reverence before it. But the train must move on. So out into the dust and dirt the last wagon moved again, swaying and jolting, while Mother eased as best she could each pain-giving jolt so no harm might be done her, that she might be strong to feed the little one, bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh. Who will dare to say that angels did not cluster round and guard her and ease her rude bed, for she had given another choice spirit its mortal body that it might work out its God-given destiny?” (New Era, July 1975, p. 8; italics added.)"

Fight My Battles

I see death all around me and misery and want
But, through the lord's strength, foes like these will not daunt
For He's given me the sword (to wield), the arm and the brain
That I might fight my battles when all seems in vain


Brigham Young said:

“I can see death, misery and want on the faces of this people. But some may say, ‘I have faith the Lord will turn them away.’ What ground have we to hope this? Have I any good reason to say to my Father in heaven, ‘Fight my battles,’ when He has given me the sword to wield, the arm and the brain that I can fight for myself? Can I ask Him to fight my battles and sit quietly down waiting for Him to do so? I cannot. I can pray the people to hearken to wisdom, to listen to counsel; but to ask God to do for me that which I can do for myself is preposterous to my mind.” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses).

After writing 1,000 poems, I am going to start writing a little prehistory of what triggers the writing of each poem:
I was spending the mornings parked at the library because it was shaded and quiet. With fields all around. Peaceful. Then, I saw three men walking towards me. The homeless people I see wandering by the Food For Less nearby. One came straight towards me, one to the front of the car and one to the back. Encircling. I casually continued to write and pretend to not be bothered. A white man with his shirt open said, "hey I see you sitting here every day, and we are wondering what you are doing?" I told them I'm Mormon and I write poetry. The white man said something about that Utah religion. And, the Samoan guy put his head in the passenger window with his arms resting on the door and hands inches from my purse- which looked more like a mail bag at this point because I had dozens of poems ready to mail out. I then proceeded to read a poem about hope that's based on President's Uchtdorf's talk.


No matter how bleak the sky
Or how threatening the storm
Well above, it's brilliant to fly
Midst the sun and the lift of transport

Yet... there's an experience that surpasses
As we lift up our hearts in prayer
For then we've a glorious horizon
Bright with assurance of God's care

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Prayer and the Blue Horizon
Ensign, June 2009, 5 (From where we are there is nearly a view of the airport also.)

So with the white guy in one window, the Samoan in the other and a black man listening in I was interrupted by the white guy and the Samoan said no- let her finish. And he looked at me and said it sounded like the Bible. I finished and told them there is always hope and never forget to pray. The Samoan said, "I see you are from California. I am from Sea Side. I am a Samoan. I told him of my love for the Samoans. They have such big hearts and always smell good. I gave him a bottle of cologne- a random thing I had in the car because my step son was going to throw it away (and I rescued it). He was pleased and walked away.
The white man stayed and told me of his sorrows. He was homeless. Had been evicted for having too many friends over. He was wanting sympathy and said he was hungry. I gave him some trail mix. He said he couldn't take it. I said, but you're hungry take it. The black man did and said "then I will, you're crazy man" and walked off to join the Samoan. The white man told me he still pays his mother's rent. And he wouldn't get money until the 30th. He asked if I would buy him some cigarettes. I told him I don't smoke and this is America- we should be healthy. (I say random things) He put his fist out with tattoos on the knuckles for us to knuckle bump- a friendship thing...and as He wasn't interested in me anymore, he walked off. Looking at him join his buddies, I saw the Samoan had the trail mix and the black man the cologne. Another wonderful Samoan trait- they are generous. Just then my phone rang and I started my car and left. Thankful that I was still alive and strangely also for the experience. I had been praying for the homeless and pondering the pursuit of Zion and the inequity of life.
So, when I told my husband this story ( I waited a day because I hesitated to tell him) he told me there is a reason he gave me a cell phone and that I should have rolled up my windows and locked my doors and proceeded to drive off even if they were encircling the car. Then pretty much what Brigham Young said in this quote. Which I read this morning and immediately proceeded to write this poem! It took longer to write this explanation that the poem. ...

Another interesting note: is the article I read the Brigham Young quote is lost to me. It was stating that we should prepare ourselves by having plenty of supplies, including those dust masks, and things like separate computers for those who are in quaranteen so they can still socialize- kids don't do separation very well. Except they are great at forgetting about mom who is to be left alone. And mom is actually in need of someone to check on her if she needs anything- like a reminder to drink something because her fever is cooking. So the writer's point was: we are supposed to be self- reliant, prepared, and educated about the h1n1 virus.

The Mainspring and Soul of Our Being Here

The mainspring and soul of our being here
Devolves upon each mother and sister
When there's a need of influence, it's clear
What their powerful sympathies will stir

The design of their creation's followed
When they have the privilege of studying
They develop powers and are endowed
For mankind's benefit, they're answering

Brigham Young
"She Shall Be Praised"
Latter-day Prophets Speak to Women

Pioneers Learned from a Rock

When the towers babbled, Moriancumer knew to pray
Four years they set up camp, much content the Northward Way
Then he led without prayer, and was rebuked to remorse
Twas time for eight vessels to take an unknown course
Since light was needed, he prayed some rocks would be bright
This Prophet discovered a prayer of faith unveils treasured sight
Pioneers need much faith, to find their promised land
They need to remember, to seek the help of God's hand

Israel was thirsty.  Moses could not ignore it
The Lord took his stand, above the rock of Horeb
Moses obeyed with faith; once again he used the rod
Once again Israel saw, the lifesaving power of God
We, too, should stand upon the rock, and look towards our Savior
To be blessed and benefit from his life giving favor
Pioneers need much faith, they know on whom they depend
They learned repeatedly, that the desert's not their friend

Bountiful was heav'nly, after an eight year long walk
But, they'd much more to go. Nephi melted tools from rock
Laman and Lemuel tried to throw him out to sea
If Nephi was found dead they thought they would be free
But, the Lord did shake them. And they helped to build the ship
Set for the Promised Land, across the ocean, their long trip
Our Pioneers are taught through faith. A rock contains the tools
For curious workmanship, if they'd but apply the rules

When the Saints were expelled, they tracked the mountainous trail
Though starved and though frozen, with handcarts they would not fail
They crossed at Sweet Water, with three young men as their bridge
Then faced a two- mile high wall. They climbed up the Rocky Ridge
Exhausted and dying. Their faith was not based in vain
Brigham Young sent rescue. Soon new Saints would come by train
Pioneers need much faith. Twas on a rock that they prayed
Twas at the height of pain: they were rescued and were saved

Pioneers need much faith and are taught by a great stone
They seek to find Zion, with God, no longer to roam
Twas only possible by faith in our Father of this earth
He,  who is our Savior died to give us all rebirth
His suffering was the key. The atonement turned the lock
To final'ty of death. He 'rose from a tomb of rock
Now we are each waiting, for his glorious return
He'll stand on the cleaved rock. The Great Day for which we yearn!