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From “New Mexico Songs”
THREE men entered the desert alone. | |
| But one of them slept like a sack of stone | |
| As the wagon toiled and plodded along, | |
| And one of them sang a drinking song | |
| He had heard at the bar of The Little Cyclone. | 5 |
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| Then he too fell asleep at last, | |
| While the third one felt his soul grow vast | |
| As the circle of sand and alkali. | |
| His soul extended and touched the sky, | |
| His old life dropped as a dream that is past, | 10 |
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| As the sand slipped off from the wagon wheel— | |
| The shining sand from the band of steel— | |
| While the far horizon widened and grew | |
| Into something he dimly felt he knew, | |
| And had always known, that had just come true. | 15 |
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| His vision rested on ridges of sand, | |
| And a far-off horseman who seemed to stand | |
| On the edge of the world—in an orange glow | |
| Rising to rose and a lavender tone, | |
| With an early star in a turquoise band. | 20 |
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| And his spirit sang like a taper slim, | |
| As the slow wheels turned on the desert’s rim | |
| Through the wind-swept stretches of sand and sky, | |
| He had entered the desert to hide and fly, | |
| But the spell of the desert had entered him. | 25 |
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| Three men entered the desert alone. | |
| One of them slept like a sack of stone, | |
| One of them reached till he touched the sky. | |
| The other one dreamed, while the hours went by | |
| Of a girl at the bar of The Little Cyclone. | 30 |
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