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Joseph Smith
Restoration

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Lyrics: 2-15 Scene
ANDERSON (Approaching with the mantle of the Prophet)
I am searching for one whom this mantle fits;
He must be small, for both he and Joseph's ghost
Must wear it.
Governor Ford, take it
As a gift; you are the full man, of rhetoric complete
And the gift of endearing the people of Illinois.

FORD
No. Give it to his widow.
FORBES (He unfolds the mantle and displays it)
As the prophet strode before the Saints, it billowed full;
As he stood before them, it was like a testament
That kept him near to God: it ripples with his light,
From gold, and the glass of the earth for seeing.
It is the very veil between him and us as you
Hold it there, John.
ANDERSON (Taking back the mantle and turning it around.)
Here is Joseph, whom you slew
With your neighing assurances:
Tom Ford, shall I place him about you?
FORD (ln fascination)
His mantle? No!
It is as if I only vaguely remember him:
He has slipped away; the issue is settled.
What now can be done?
The mantle shines in the morning sun,
And though he is gone he is not,
But lives in the newness of a man
Awakening from the terror of dreams.
They fall away from him, and I fall away from him.
In Nauvoo his people gather,
And the city is not mine though they give it me.
I am like a stick in the fields,
A standard around which the sparrows chatter
Endlessly of intrigue and fear.
The vessel of the state is not here.
I am what I have been; I become myself
Like the morass below my recognition of it.

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