1979
Nauvoo Remembers
September 1979


“Nauvoo Remembers,” Ensign, Sept. 1979, 9

Nauvoo Remembers

Joseph wrestled in Nauvoo’s dirt.

His scuffmarks yet remain.

The city remembers

The grove’s all-day meetings

(Joseph’s doctrines lighting through the trees);

The tithing-toil for the temple;

God’s whispers in the night …

The Saints are gone now, the grove empty,

The temple, fire-ravaged,

Whipped down by winds.

Winter deepened, the Saints escaped.

They are all gone now.

Now, gone.

An unassuming evening breeze

Murmurs his name.

Hopes in the earth recall his firm tread.

The grove flourishes quietly; still,

His voice echoes on.

We hear cheers as the Legion rides by,

Rising dust into the air.

We hear singing, boys shouting.

In the distance, shots.

Weeping.

Nauvoo remembers:

This place is not dead.