[Vision2020] Poems of Idaho

[Tom Hansen]

While browsing several online public archives this morning, I came across
the 136-page publication of . . .

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"Poems of Idaho"
By H. F. Johnson

Published by:

Signal Job Printing House
Weiser, Idaho
1895

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To give you a "taste" of these poems, I transcribed . . .

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"A Moonlight Night in Idaho"

Low the shades of night advancing
O'er the mountains crowned with snow.
See the silvery moonbeams dancing
O'er the plains of Idaho.

Constellations robed in beauty.
Bright as diamonds, charm the sight.
Radiant as a crown of jewels,
Glimering on the brow of night.

Not a sound disturbs my musing.
All is silent, hushed and still,
Save the joyous, gladsome music
Rippling from the mountain rill.

While I sat alone in silence,
Gazing on the grand display,
Fancy pictured worlds of beauty
In the regions far away.

Far beyond my feeble vision,
In the reckless fields of space.
Worlds may float on airy pinions
Freighted with some noble race.

Human beings, grand and glorious,
May be dwellers on those spheres
Love may reign on them, victorious
Over sorrow, hate and tears.

Thoughts like these in rapid transit,
Chase each other through my brain,
While I sit alone in silence,
Gazing on the hills and plain.

Gazing on the lofty mountain's
Glittering summit crowned with snow,
>From whose sides the crystal fountains
Cast their rippling rills below.

Leaping o'er their beds of pebble,
Dancing in the moonlight beams,
Onward through the vales and meadows
Glides the mountain's crystal streams.

Far below me in the valleys,
Dimply seen through forests grand,
Winding like some mighty serpent
Is the Payette's flowery strand.

On my west, through vales of beauty,
Glides the Weiser on its course,
Kissing meadows robed in verdure,
Rich as any land can boast.

Other lands may boast of grandeur,
Tell us of their crowns of snow,
But they'll not surpass in splendor,
A moonlight night in Idaho.

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I downloaded the PDF file and posted all five and a half megabytes of it
at . . .

http://www.tomandrodna.com/Stuff/Poems_of_Idaho.pdf

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"All dim in haze the mountains lay,
With dimmer vales between.
And rivers glimmered on their way
By forests faintly seen."