Alma: Chapter 5.

To Zarahemla Alma went to bear his testimony.

Reminding all of their divine and righteous patrimony.

He spoke of chains unlinking and of hearts burst into bloom,

Of garments washed in sacred blood to wipe away sure doom.

 

He warned of pride and envy, twin devices of the devil –

Who wants to bring all mankind down to his own sorry level.

Mocking others for their humble lives and steadfast living

He explained would not persuade their God to be forgiving.

 

Alma saw the future, and the past, as prophets do;

He testified a Savior the whole world would have to view.

Whether they accepted him or turned their back in scorn

Decided if they were to die or rise as newly born.

 

 

 

Alma; Chapter Four.

Scarcely had the blood and bones of Sidon washed away

When the Nephites left their duties and rose up to play.

The orphans and the widows, the fields of grain laid waste,

Were but a temporary check upon their wicked haste.

 

For soon their fine twined linens and their showy wealth

Sickened and immobilized their religious health.

Those who bore the brunt of war and did not soon regain

Their lands and gold were treated like an undesirable stain.

 

Inequality directly caused the Church to lead

Others from one folly to another without heed.

So Alma left the judgment seat to see could he repair

With testimony pure and sweet the cancerous despair.

Alma: Chapter Two. The Amlicites.

The Amlicites did revel in the mark upon their head;

A dot of paste compounded out of clay and blood so red.

It was a sign of kinship with their fellow Lamanites;

Who also claimed revenge for the great theft of all their rights.

 

They battled with the Nephites on the river Sidon’s shores,

Rejecting peace as folly and embracing death and wars.

Twelve thousand men with dots of paste upon their heads were slain.

Twelve thousand souls were sent to God to plead with Him in vain.

 

Their refugees fled to the hills of Hermounts, where wild beasts

Chewed their wounds and bit their flesh in predatory feasts.

No sign is ever left upon the whitened bones of sin

That is the heritage of those who let the devil in.

A King Who Did Not Tax His People.

(Based on the Book of Mosiah, Chapter Six; from the Book of Mormon.)

King Benjamin grew old and in his wisdom so increased

That he never thought of tyrannizing man or beast.

Instead he called his son Mosiah to a meeting grave,

And gave him charge the kingdom to take over and to save.

 

After giving utterance to all his loving nation,

Benjamin retired to a peaceful meditation.

He lived three years before called back to silence and to dust,

Having walked in godly fear and tenacious trust.

 

Mosiah reigned but didn’t rule with money from the masses;

Instead he grew an orchard and fed his herds on grasses.

A king who tills the earth to keep his people free from taxes

Will never feel the angry blade of his subject’s axes.