San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-03-01
LASCA.

want f.oc life and I want fresh air:
And ] sigh for the canter after the cattle.
The crack of the whips like shots in battle
The melee of horns. and hoofs, and heads
Ihat wars, and wrangles. and scatters and
spreads:
The green beneath and the blue above.
And dash and danger, and life and love.
And LGsca, Lasca used to ride
On Il mouSe-gray mustang. close to my side.
With blue serape and bright-belled spur;
laughed with joy as ! looked at her.
Little knew she of books or creeds;
An Ave Maria sufficed her needs:
@ttle she cared. save to be by my side,
To ride with mo. and ever to ride.
From San SabaS shore to Lavacas tide.
She was as bold the pillows that beat.
She was as wild as the breczes that blow
From her little head to her little feet
She swayed. in her suppleness. to and fro
By each gust of pass ion; sapling pine
That grows on the edge of Kansas bluff
And, wars with the wind when the weather is
rough.
|, like Lasca this love of mine
She would hunger that I might eat
Would take the bitter and leave me the sweet
But once; when | made her jealous for fun.
At something I'd WHISPERED. or looked, or done
One Sunday. in San Antonio
To glorious girl the Alamo
she drew from her garter dear little dagger,
Adjusting of waSp.-it made me stagger,
An inch TO the left an inch to the right
And ] shouldn't be Numbering here tonight:
But she sobbed and. sobbing. so swiftly bound
Her torn reboso about the wound
That quite forSave her Scratches don't count
In Texas. down by the Rio Grande
=, Her eye was brown-a deep. deep brown:
Her hair darker than her eye:
And something in her smile and frown.
Curled crimson lip. and instep high
Showed that there ran in each blue vein,
Mixed. with the milder Aztec strain
The vigorous vintage of old Spain.
The air was heavy. the night was hot
sat by her side. and forgot-forgot:
Forgot the herd that were taking their rest;
Forgot that the air close opprcst
That the Texas norther comes sudden and soon
In the dead of night the blaze of noon.
That once let the herd at its breath take fright
And nothing on earth can stop the flight:
And WOO to the rider. and to the stced
Who falls in front of their mad stampede.
Was that thunder? No. by the Lord.
sprang to saddle without a word
One foot on Nine and she clung behind
Away. on hot chase down the wind.
But never was fox-hunt half so hard,
And never Steed so little spared
For We rode for our lives. You shall hear how
In Texas. down by the Rio Grandc.
The mustang flew. and urged him on:
There was one chance left. and you have but
Halt. jump. to tho ground. and shoot your horse
,ronch under his carcass: and take Your chance
And if the steers. in their frantic course
FONT batter you both to pieces at once.
you may thank your star. IL not. goodby
| To the ouickenrg kiss and tho onc-,lravn SIGH
And the omen air and the open sky
! In Texas. down by the Rio Crande
. The cattle gained on us--iust I felt
! TOT my ola SlX-SnoOtef behind belt.
! Down came the mustang. and down came NC
| tlncing together. ard-what was tho rest?
\ body that spread itself on my breast
Two arms that shielded my dizzy head
Two lips that hard on my lips were pressed:
Then came thunder in nv ears
As over surged the sea Of steers
Blows that beat blood into nv eyes
And when I could rise
Lasca was dead
rouCed out few feet deer
And there in Earth's arms laid her TO sleer:
And there she is living. and no ono knows
And the summer shines and the winter SHOWS;
For manv day the flowers have snread
a pail NJ petals over her head:
And the little gray hawk hangs aloft In the air.
And the slv coyote trots hero and there
And the black snake glides and glitters, an
slides
Into the rift in cottonwood tree:
And the buzzard sails on
/. And comes and is zone,
Stately and still. like shin at sea:
And ! wonder why do not care
For the things that like the things that wer'
, Does half my heart lie buried there
In Texas, down by the Rio Grande?
F. Desprez.