Aye, Spanish Needles

Aye, Spanish Needles, far from native shore We the Diaspora exult to meet Though our station, not what we dreamt of yore Is battered by grimy dust and slimed sleet Aye, Spanish Needles, still unbowed you stand A dazzling prince in a far foreign land. Dreaming gold reposed on ivory stars Where evening's chill draws near the weary night Shining still despite dusty mannered cars Aloof in their suburban hedge from blight I see you huddled in mass fore my eyes Aching through El Dorado's balmy sighs Extreme doubt supposed in old poet's tale Of woodland springs and love's certain patience Your hardy forms admit a desert gale Thrashing grim your tropic resilience, Beside beaten edges, and brackish yards Still hold time's beauty against fate's crude cards. Aye, Spanish Needles, resident aliens From another shore, what long age brought you From the ocean's salt milk, and fresh grievance To stake your claim to Conquistadors' clue This Florida had breast to fountain new youth? Will you now tell islands this empty truth? Juan Ponce De Leon took back nothing too Except the joy of the great river here But I have seen gold softened by silk dew On regal petals protesting time's wear And I have kept better company than Ribault, Jackson, or the old Cowford clan. Aye, Spanish Needles, brother of the earth With me, dare my heart now its hope to green Like you from this rustic place telling mirth In golden gold and whitest white yet seen Something in your character is changed here Something common is now a beauty rare. It is the mettle of our birth for each pain To mirth, and wear love's beauty like the stars Singing redemption songs with tears for rain And count for medals our battles bright scars Aye, Spanish Needles, bright golden and white My heart like a ship rejoice you hold the light. Beside the beaten edge in full abandon There prolific in your numbers, a car Of rubbery resilience, in my