Rio Grande

General Taylor ordered his troops into parallel rows And marched 'em south to an outcrop opposite Matamoros They set up the cannons by the written decree of President Polk Inciting a war for the territory of Mexico And so the armies fought and slew Dying by each other's hands But you couldn't tell whose blood was whose When it all ran into the Rio Grande Now up in Laredo, on my way back from the bar last night I turned onto Monroe off of Convent Ave., and walked on by A corner preacher thumping on his book of law Who claimed our country was given by the grace of God So on I went with that phrase echoing in my ears Remembering the carnage of those early years "Grace of God", wondering what it could mean I stumbled home, fell asleep and had a dream That John the Baptist came back to life Looking for a place to set up camp And I led him down by the morning light To the holy waters of the Rio Grande And when I awoke I ran To the banks on which I stand Looking out across the land I wish I could have seen it long before it had ever been found Just a nameless river rolling away through the prairie ground And the buffalo crossing with no notion of border lines And the eagle flying with no nation to symbolize Such a beautiful sight to leave us Must it be the fate of man To blindly suffer his own ideas As in the case of the Rio Grande