You and I settled this section together; Youthful and mettled and wild were we then. You were the gladdest town out in the weather; I was the maddest young scamp among men. Latigo Town, ay, Latigo Town, Child of the mesa sun-flooded and brown, That hour of gracious romance and good leather, Splendid, audacious, comes never again. Many a rover as brash as a sparrow, Loping in over the amethyst plains, Reined for your spinning roulette and your faro, Light-hearted sinning and fiddled refrains. Latigo Town, ay, Latigo Town, We made a past you are still living down, Keen for a tussle, with salt in our marrow, Steel in our muscles and sun in our veins! Rowels that jingled and rigs that were tattered, Yet how we tingled to dreams that were high! Slim was the treasure we gathered and scattered, But can you measure the wind and the sky? Latigo Town, ay, Latigo Town, Freedom and youth were a robe and a crown. Then we were bosses of riches that mattered, Laughing at losses of things you can buy. Town that was fiery and careless and Spanish, Boy that was wiry and wayward and glad— Over the border to limbo they vanish; Progress and order decreed they were bad. Latigo Town, ay, Latigo Town, Pursy with culture and civic renown, Never censorious progress can banish Dreams of the glorious youth that we had! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BALLAD OF CHRISTMAS by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE THE BELLS OF LYNN; HEARD AT NAHANT by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW TO WAKEN AN OLD LADY by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS NO SECOND TROY by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS OUR SOLDIERS' SANTIAGO SONG by DAVID GRAHAM ADEE THE MORAL FABLES: THE COCK AND THE FOX by AESOP THE ALBION QUEENS, ACT 1: THE WONDER by JOHN BANKS (17TH CENTURY-) |