The Exile’s Story

By Edwin F. Parry

I’m an exile, and wander the country around,
Seeking refuge wherever it is to be found;
Many months have I passed of my life in this way –
Often roaming at night and secluded by day;
For I dare not make known whom I am – whence I came,
And in traveling assume a fictitious name!
Not the happiest life, you may think, to lead?
Ah, ’tis not very pleasant, I assure you, indeed;
But the only alternative left unto me
Was to lie in a dungeon, or thus to be free,
But to roam in disguise among strangers – unknown –
Far away from my dear ones I wander alone!

You’re surprised, it may be, that I lead such a life,
And you wonder, perhaps, if I have not a wife
And a home where fond children are waiting for me,
And are anxious once more their dear father to see.
Then why wander about in disguise all this time?
You would ask; can it be that I’m guilty of crime,
And am trying to escape from the punishment due
For transgressing some law! Can all this be true?
If you care for my story, I’ll tell you the facts,
For I’m not in the least part ashamed of my acts:
I admit that I roam as a fugitive free –
Not from justice, though, do I seek now to flee;
For I’d have you all know in this boasted free land
When the law deals with Saints justice takes no hand
In the case – when once charged a man is convicted,
And the penalty fully is always inflicted.
I’ve a home, a dear wife, loving children, too,
Unto whom I still hope to forever prove true;
But because I will not – nay I cannot deny
And disown those for whom I much rather would die
Than deceive; and because I claim as my right
To my God’s commands, e’en though they might
Be opposed by the vile and the base of mankind;
For the exercise of freemen’s rights I now find
That I’m hunted by bloodthirsty, villainous knaves,
Who would that all “Mormons” were counted as slaves!
E’en the vilest of wretches that tread the earth,
And most cursed debauchees of no moral worth –
Yes, the basest of creatures to be found high or low,
Are left free, at their will to come and to go,
While the men who are innocent, guiltless and pure
Are imprisoned in dungeons, and guarded secure!
How long such affairs will remain in this state
I’m unable to tell; we will yet have to wait
For developments time in its course brings about,
Though in this I am confident: all will turn out
For the good of God’s chosen for the cause of right,
For truth will yet conquer and triumph in might:
’Tis Almighty Jehovah’s unfailing decree,
The despised and oppressed shall ere long be free!

(1887)