On wild Utah plains settled a wagon train,
men, women and children of gods creed
Mountain Meadows was where they were
directed to rest and feed the livestock
They had traveled from the northwestern
Arkansas region, knocking on Utah's door
Marion, Carroll and several other counties
in Arkansas they ventured from
Southern California bound, a party of 120
Led by Colonel Alexander Fancher,
a man who judged not his tormentors
For their sins were in the hands of god,
a grave mistake that would be their end
Utah war, a fear of newcomers residing,
picking at their minds, hoping to find sin
Spys were send out but only found love,
such deep feelings some there did share
In all this the Mornmons felt threatened,
so they sent out a party to unjustly kill
Here on a bright september 11 morning in
the year of 1857, hate came to visit the
emigrants on Mountain Meadows
Mormon militia and Paiute tribesmen
attacked the party in gods name
Killing all but seventeen of the children
There the corpses were left to decompose,
and for two years they lay rotting on the
open plains, exposed to natures tempest
Scattered throughout the field they lay,
dislocated bones, sepulchral skulls where
they had fallen, a ghastly sight to behold
Looted for valuables, only their broken
skeletons remained, and hair of the dead
women was everywhere to be seen
Some tangled in sage bush with the bones
of children still held in their mothers arms
And the light faded on Mountain Meadows,
nobody was left to blame, authorities did
the best they could, but the winds refused
to obey, driving the massacre into obscurity
That was that so the bastards thought,
until one day a man named Brigham Young
sought to offend, conduct an investigation
So it was that one Major John D. Lee was
prosecuted for his involvement in the crime
It was proven that he ordered the assault,
and conspired with others to falsely offer
safe passage to the emigrants out of Utah
Thus he met his maker on the very fields
where the massacre had taken place
Death by firing squad was the way he
morbidly chose to die, and so it was done
Troopers after two years erected a cairn,
a ghoulish reminder to the slaughter there
Of misery and death the place now reminds
And too of the innocent children who died
Anyway they got to the kingdom of god
faster than they had primarily anticipated
There doomed were these butchers truly,
so mormons who anathemised did atone
Children of the light, children of the brave,
in a field of hate they died, and left as mere
fodder to the hungry wolves and ferine crows
Mountain Meadows romp, up goes the pomp
Look out to the hills, there lies a past rotting
River near holds its morbid secrets too
So there it was on Mountain Meadows, a romp
and stomp party, and only one to pay the price,
one of hundreds on a Mountain Meadows romp
Author notes
This poem is based on the Mountain Meadows massacre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre#History
In a list
A contest entry
- show me how far you've come. (PREWRITES!) by emma....
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Let me know your thoughts on this poem.
Comments
1 - 8 of 8
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emotion and pain
and history
this was sad but you wrote it so well -
An excellent write on a tragic event in history. As a history buff I enjoyed your honest portrayal of the events of that day, without tainting the horrors and reality of what transpired there. I've written on this subject too, if you're interested... http://allpoetry.com/poem/4823835
A very insightful read. Some minor edits: Mornmon >> Mormon
Well done.
Rory
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out off Utah
- typo.
Children of the light, children of the brave,
in a field of hate they died
-what a way to start a final stanza. This poem is filled with raw emotion and tells its story in a way that makes me question humanity, while still feeling humility. This is a brilliant write, very, very well done. -
The Entire Story Here
Yes yours is much longer than my poem - I think I had the year 1858 - the mormons shift the blame onto the Indians - but Heaven knows - the butchered entered the Kingdom - the butchers did not enter ever (except they repented) - perhaps you should edit that part - keep on keeping on - Bless God - Joe - dobar dan
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This is amazing! I love how you had so many different states in there. It is really interesting, too. Congratulations on how much you have grown as a writer since your 1st write on this website :]
Thank you for entering, and good luck in the contest
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I need you to please put your user name spaced out, along with a link to your other entry in my contest, into the author's notes. Or else I can't really judge you :] Please fix that as soon as possible.
Thanks for entering
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Wow I didn't know any of that before I read this haha I've failed history all my life This is a great write Kept me reading
Thank you so much for entering my contest and Good luck
-♥Amy♥ -
good job...i didnt know anything about this tale before..but ur poem made me really intersted to read about that...thanks for sharing
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