Drifting Into El Rojos Cantina
He drifts into town on his
faithful quarter horse called Moose
who has a three-legged gait
which gives him saddle sores
when riding miles from place to place.
A desert wind storm hits them hard,
he pulls his cowboy hat down his face
so the sand won't sting his deep-set brown eyes,
he sees a faded sign in red lettering advertising
" EL ROJOS CANTINA " as it bangs against
the cracked adobe and tiled-roofed building.
A pretty senorita dressed in a ruby-red dress
greets the unshaven drifter as he stumbles
through the double-saloon doors,
the cantina is dark and dank with smells of
stale cigarette smoke and cheap whiskey,
hunger and thirst overwhelm him in that
he ignores the stench of the bar and eatery.
The brazen and sultry woman sits at his
table and begins to sing in a husky voice
while a man with a guitar accompanies her,
male patrons smile at her flamboyant low-cut
dress as she begins singing in a seductive mood:
Stranger you are handsome to look at
as I stare at you and purr like a cat,
let's get together and see
if something develops between you and me,
my name is Ventura, a lucky charm,
I want to be your woman and mean no harm,
please take me away from this place,
so I will not die here in disgrace.
It didn't take much convincing,
Ventura and the drifter rode off together
into the red sunset after the sand storm
on a long and bumpy ride on Moose with
his three-legged gait while the senorita
hung onto her billowing dress which
blew over her face.
Years passed and Ventura lying down and close to death,
confesses she loved a man named Hildago who left her
at the altar and filled her with humiliation before
family and friends until a drifter swept in and saved
her from mortification and disgrace,
her man of many years weeps for the woman who was
his lucky charm wearing a red dress whom he met at
El Rojos Cantina during a tumultuous desert storm.
August 8, 2016
Copyright © Sonia Walker | Year Posted 2016
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