Rio Colorado

©2008 Wayne Cook

They say this land is largely untouched
People disappear into vines and brush
They go on in, may lose their mind and never care
You don’t wear shoes much down here
I’ve seen them rot off in under a year
Stand 50 feet from a man; you may never see him there

It’s a land of beauty, just untamed
Like Eden… just slightly stained
Each man watches where he walks with careful grace
Jungle is a woman with her black hair down,
Smile on her face, her morals on the ground
Knife behind her back; man, you better know your place

You might hear that dart fly past
And again you might breathe your last
A blow gun is deathly quiet in the hands of the right man
You’ll swear you had the best intentions
But best intentions were a shameless sin
You fade away with nothing but your empty hands

Indian trails will seduce you and not deliver
Seduce you again with the curves of a lazy river
And you’ll never get out of the arms of the fragrance
Orchids dangle from wet black dados
Or carelessly from rocks and shadows
You may walk, you may run, but you’ll not get a dance

You’ll find gold down on the Rio Colorado
Gold like you’ve never seen this side of El Dorado
Gold nuggets you can hold with your trembling bravado
Cause you’ll never get out of the arms of the Rio Colorado