Rosa

“Spanish is the lovin’ tongue,
Soft as music, light as spray.
’Twas a girl I learnt it from,
Livin’ down Sonora way.
I don’t look much like a lover,
Yet I say her love words over,
Often when I’m all alone—
“Mi amor, mi corazon.”

Nights when she knew where I’d ride,
She would listen for my spurs,
Throw the big door open wide,
Raise them laughin’ eyes of hers.
And my heart would nigh stop beatin'
When I heard her tender greeting,
Whispered soft for me alone—
“Mi amor! mi corazon!”

Moonlight in the patio,
Old señora noddin’ near,
Me and Juana talkin’ low
So the Madre couldn’t hear—
How those hours would go a-flyin’!
And too soon I’d hear her sighin’
In her little sorry tone—
“Adios, mi corazon!”

But one time I had to fly
For a foolish gamblin’ fight,
And we said a swift goodbye
In that black, unlucky night.
When I’d loosed her arms from clingin’
With her words the hoofs kep’ ringin’
As I galloped north alone—
“Adios, mi corazon!”

Never seen her since that night.
I kaint cross the Line, you know.
She was Mex and I was white;
Like as not, it’s better so.
Yet I’ve always sort of missed her
Since that last, wild night I kissed her,
Left her heart and lost my own—
“Adios, mi corazon!”
― Charles Badger Clark, Sun and Saddle Leather