| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Petrolino’s Complaint | | By Alice Corbin |
| | From “New Mexico Folk-songs”
THE OLD ways have changed since you walked here, | |
| But worst of all is the way the people have become. | |
| They have no hearts, and their minds are like putty, | |
| And if you ask for conversation, they might as well be dumb! | |
| |
| Though I am old, and my sight is not good, | 5 |
| And I don’t hear as well—muy verdad—as some, | |
| With my stick I can walk faster than many, | |
| And my mind travels faster than a man’s with no tongue! | |
| |
| The young have no thought for their elders, | |
| Their ranches are now no bigger than your thumb, | 10 |
| The young men work in the mines in Colora’o, | |
| Or they sit and warm their stomachs in the sun! | |
| |
| The girls spend their money on big hats and velvet, | |
| But when they would marry, they haven’t the sum; | |
| And the old songs and dances are forgotten, | 15 |
| As the Saints will be forgotten—if they go on as they’ve begun! | |
| |
| I have gone looking through hillsides and canyons, | |
| Through all the placitas where we used to run; | |
| But the old ways have changed since you walked here, | |
| And a goat is more sociable than a man that is dumb! | 20 | | | |
|
|
