Walter C. Lyman, A Man of Vision

by Albert R. Lyman

A youth heard a voice from the wilderness
And he thrilled with what it said,
for it sang of work for him to do
In the wondrous times ahead.

And ever he looked and listened
Through changes of trying years
Nor paused from his cherished purpose
to nurse futile tears.

Then the voice called, "come hither,
and build in the wilderness,
A place where saints may gather
From poverty and distress."

He forsook all else and journeyed
Away to a wild dry place,
And spread thee a verdant City
On the desert's arid face.

He had answered the voice that called him,
Yet of wealth he had gathered none,
And he put him down in a borrowed home
When his work was done.

(This led to the settlement of Blanding in 1905)