John Stetson Poet Lyric

Notes About The Poem

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In the dry Texas wind of 1883, just outside the border town of Del Rio, lived three sisters—María, Eliza, and Ruth Bennett. Daughters of a Mexican mother and a former Buffalo Soldier, they ran a small ranch on scrubland others had abandoned. Locals called them “The Sisters of the Rio,” not just for their toughness, but for their uncanny ability to tame horses that no man could ride.

Each sister had her role: María handled the accounts and kept peace with the neighboring vaqueros; Eliza trained mustangs with a whisper and rawhide rope; and Ruth, the youngest, rode dispatch for the county sheriff—delivering mail, tracking fugitives, and patching up wounded cowhands with steady hands and wild herbs.
When a gang of rustlers terrorized the borderlands, stealing cattle and leaving ranchers ruined, the Bennett sisters didn’t wait for help. One dawn, they rode out alone, rifles slung and dust flying. By sunset, they returned with every stolen steer and the gang’s leader tied behind María’s saddle.

They became folk heroes overnight—but turned down reward money, asking instead that it be used to build a school for girls on the border. That school opened in 1885. It’s still standing today.

Locals say their ranch bell still rings when the wind shifts from the river.

Tres Estrellas del Rio

Way down on the border when the wind blows cross the river
The mission bell shimmers and shivers a tune

There's slim law and order save what you can carry
Since the Buffalo Soldiers rode away in platoon

What they left behind them still shines in the moonlight
Where the dinner bell sings with the school bell at noon

There three little flowers sprang forth from the bowers
When Tejas ébano found suelo and bloomed

It's a hard life for green things it's a mean life with short springs
But sometimes amarilla springs forth in full bloom

Catching each wand'ring eye of each lone passerby
Coming into full flower ‘neath the full moon in June

Refrain:
	Amarilla Maria, Eliza, and Ruth
	They've been makin' their own way since they left their youth
	Three pretty sisters carved out an existence 
	From the prickly pear growin' 'tween 'royo and truth

María kept peace with vecino vaqueros
While Eliza trained mustangs with a whisper and a rope

And Ruth though the youngest would ride with the sheriff
Delivering mail, patching up ol' cowpokes

In the heat of the summer some wild desperados
Rustling cattle leaving ranchos in ruin 

Banditos, mosquitos among mariposas
Las tres florece 'neath an old yellow moon

Bridge:
  They saddled and rode out next morning at dawn
  Returning 'fore nightfall with the steers that were gone

  And Maria's horse carried the best prize of all
  El Jefe was trussed up and left looking small

	Amarilla Maria, Eliza, and Ruth
	Makin' their own way runs deep in their roots
	Three pretty sisters carved out an existence 
	And never abandoned each other or truth
	No they never abandoned each other or truth

Now down on the border the tower still stands there
Alone 'gainst the bandits of crumble and ruin

One side is gone, but three are still standing
In silent defiance 'neath an old flower moon

But sometimes when the night wind blows strong down the valley
You can still hear the mission bell ringing in tune

Reminding the faithful when they stand together
Is when their true character comes into view

There in the shadow of the crumbling tower
Bloom three ev'ning primrose beneath the full moon
They stand silhouetted where thorns rule the landscape
Refusing to abandon the land or the truth
A lovely reminder there's beauty in truth
Like three pretty sisters together since youth

Repeat 1st refrain
	'Tween the prickly pear growin' from 'royo to truth
	By the prickly pear growin' from arroyo to truth

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