Words of Acadiana

  This desert   Captured my heart Full on  Like no man  Ever could  The surface of my soul  Lies just under her dust   The fire of my existence  Brews within her sunsets  My bones are constructed  Of twisted juniper branches  Desert rain flows through my veins  Her wind is my air  The very reason I feel alive again  Emerging from a swamp of sadness  To be born again in the high desert sky  It should always feel this way 

  Honey Bee   Riding into the desert  To find herself again  Turquoise skies  Amber waves  Solar energy  Fate grips her tires  As she pulls into Marfa  This is Texas But there    ain’t no hold ‘em  She lays her cards  Down down down down  Ten gallon hat full of wish   Stars falling all around  It’s a story born to be told  How banjo was an instrument  Of sharing her soul  Without the black  There’d be no white  So she puts up the fight  To take space in a genre  Unwelcoming at best  No rest  For the weary  For soldiers who must march on  To the call of the desert  Giving birth  To a new type of slave song  A slave to shedding light on A past buried in dirt  Long forgotten story tellers  Now share their prayers with her  Cowboy Carter  In the desert  ‘Bout to tell you like it is 

 Drape this weaving over my shoulders  In hopes of keeping back the cold  Which has the power to silence me  Directional crosses  Guide me to the Four Corners  Leading back to my ancestral home  This land is your land  This land is my land  In a perfect world  We walk hand in hand  Crescendo of colors  Fire  Water  Wedged together  Deep intentions  The past has a way of carrying on  It’s now your story to tell  Weaving us together  Mending a troubled past  Light bathes the present  We’ve moved through the darkness  To stand here  A wearing blanket  bringing it all to the surface  A beautiful dance  As the wind ruffles the tassels  I feel my ancestors’ prayers  Falling to earth as rain drops  Giving birth to a future  Full of hope and pride  Bow my head to the South  Rising up any residual negativity  Imbue it with this frequency  Peace begins inside of me  A swell of love unleashed 

  The pain behind your eyes   Calls to me like a siren in the desert  A mermaid laid out  Gasping for breath  For the rain that never comes  Dust swirling in the air  Chokes out hope  Of surviving    this insurmountable loss  Of making it through this barren landscape  The siren’s song  A symphony of loss  Sunsets burst with fire  A hell on earth  But the gentle breeze cools the air  And by night it feels ok again  The desert has a way of Destroying you  Only to rebuild you  From her magical mud  You stand in the face of her sun light  A magical adobe brought back to life  Changing forms  A call to arms  You must escape the fire  To be reborn  Silent prayers fall back to earth  Like raindrops  On this cracked earth 

  Ridin’ that desert wind   Bars and bottles  My only friends  This inescapable lonesome existence  Wears on my soul  Like saddle leather  Toughened by the sun  Worn by the wear  What’s mean to be  Will always prevail  I tell myself  As I gallop off in faith  This desert taught me how to trust myself  Get back up Shake the dust off myself  Shooters and looters  Cowboys and clowns  Each one playing a role  In my rodeo  I tug at the pendant  Wear it close to my heart  If there’s one still there  I feel it beats for you  This far west Texas sky  Stretches on forever  I keep riding those sunsets  Hoping one leads back to you  This land is my home  It’s the reason I roam  Back into town again and again 

  Dark bars   Emotional scars  That led to your blood  Dancing across my denim shirt  Your life hung in the balance  Scale tips from left to right  Could leave you only wounded  Could also snuff out your light  Feeling haggard and worn  Used and discarded  You drug me down a road I never liked  Kicking and Screaming all the way  If you couldn’t read it in my eyes  That was hurt you left me sitting with  Sat long enough that hurt turned to hate  And now I watch you fade away  Drops of your blood on my face Wearing that bitch like war paint  I’m a rider  Not a dier  And that shit you put me through  Will fade away  Make my exit through that swinging door  As I listen to your gargle  Whether you live or you die  No longer my concern  You fucked with my heart  Hope you got your lesson learned  As I ride off into this Marfa night  The smile on my face is not erasable  The feeling of revenge not escapable  So I say a prayer  Gets carried in the wind  If we ever meet again  I pray you keep yo