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| Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah |
This poetry post is submitted for Bill West's "Sixth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge"
You can read all about it at this link:
http://westinnewengland.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-sixth-annual-great-genealogy-poetry.html
I've submitted a few poems by my grandmother to this challenge in previous years. Bertha Louise (Roberts) Wilkinson (1897 - 1990) was the poet in our family. Usually she wrote about nature, or New England (she was born in Yorkshire, England) or members of the family. In this poem she wrote about her first trip to Utah, and to Salt Lake City. I thought the LDS members of the genealogy community would enjoy this poem. My grandparents changed churches many times during their lives, and after retiring to California in the 1970s they joined the LDS church. The landscape in Utah must have been rather exciting to my grandmother, after living in Yorkshire and in Massachusetts for the previous part of her life.
Our Trip to Utah by Bertha Wilkinson
The trip we took with our friends the Browns
Riding through many country towns
Then through the mountain canyons pass
Now the valley green with grass.
Farmers with their stacks of hay
Sunny skies, a pleasant day
Mountains rising high and grand
Many shades of rock and sand.
Manti Temple of oolite stone
Standing in dignity all alone
The third to be built in Utah state
Dedicated in eighteen eighty eight.
Bryce Canyon was the next view to see
Its grandeur appearing quite suddenly
Spectacular red rock of many formations
Grander than anyone’s expectations.
The North rim of Grand Canyon we next went to see
And we all stood and admired it silently
Forms, figures, had shaped through eons of time
Mostly red rock, some upper part lime.
On our way down and back an over night stay
At Cedar Breaks where another display
Of the canyon there, with snow on the ground
Nic showed us pictures of plant life there found.
A visit with them at this high altitude
Enjoying their friendship and also good food
Then we went to Springville where we stayed two days
To chapel on Sunday to sing songs of praise.
The next day cherry picking and had lots to do
Went to Provo to see Wilkinson Center BYU
A beautiful building for recreation
Other floors for study and meditation.
Mary with her children four
Took us back to Salt Lake City once more.
Then the Dunconson family we visited.
Now we found our time getting limited.
A tour to Visitor’s Center, Temple Square
Where the restored Gospel was explained to us there
From the beginning of time to these latter days
Where God’s plan was revealed, how to walk in his ways.
Before we left on the train for home
Going past the Capitol dome
Taking pictures of Monument Square
Many tourists gathered there.
That night we went to Bingham town
To see a copper mine of world renown.
Now good byes were said to our wonderful friends
And our trip to Utah finally ends.
What a great poem, Heather, on so many levels! A real family treasure!
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your grandmother's poems, Heather, Thanks for sharing them in the Challenge!
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