Vortexan
April 11th, 2008, 02:45 PM
El Despoblado (the unhabited land), is what the Spanish called the Big Bend area of West Texas along the Rio Grande. I wrote most of this quite a while ago but just dusted it off to try and finish it. Current events with the border fence going up needed to be in there somewhere. Anyhow it reads as poetry so I thought I'd share it. I'm still somewhat unsure of how to approach it musically but definitely some sort of spanish/mexican vibe to it.
El Despoblado
Copyright – Michael C. Marks 4-19-2008
El Despoblado the uninhabited land
Down by the bend in the old Rio Grande
Keeper of secrets no tongue could tell
For thousands of years she’s kept them so well
The first to arrive in this vast empty place
Left little behind that time can’t erase
Rock art and legends of ghosts in the hills
Say they’ll return but they never will
Then the Spanish came in search of their gold
Losing their mines the legends are told
They claimed this land for 300 years
Until manifest destiny made it to here
We all have our time and we all have our place
You can forget the names you can forget the face
But we’ll all be remembered by what’s left behind
And the legacy left in the passage of time
Then the miners who dug for the cinnabar ore
Left ghostowns in ruins and closed down the store
And ranchers with cattle who fenced off the range
In the blink of an eye everything changed
Now it’s tourists and tour guides with passports in hand
And the border patrols on the old Rio Grande
With fences to separate and divide
Cause that side is yours and this side is mine
We all have our time and we all have our place
You can forget the names you can forget the face
But we’ll all be remembered by what’s left behind
And the legacy left in the passage of time
El Despoblado the magical land
Down by the bend in the old Rio Grande
Keeper of secrets no tongue could tell
For thousands of years she’s kept them so well
El Despoblado
Copyright – Michael C. Marks 4-19-2008
El Despoblado the uninhabited land
Down by the bend in the old Rio Grande
Keeper of secrets no tongue could tell
For thousands of years she’s kept them so well
The first to arrive in this vast empty place
Left little behind that time can’t erase
Rock art and legends of ghosts in the hills
Say they’ll return but they never will
Then the Spanish came in search of their gold
Losing their mines the legends are told
They claimed this land for 300 years
Until manifest destiny made it to here
We all have our time and we all have our place
You can forget the names you can forget the face
But we’ll all be remembered by what’s left behind
And the legacy left in the passage of time
Then the miners who dug for the cinnabar ore
Left ghostowns in ruins and closed down the store
And ranchers with cattle who fenced off the range
In the blink of an eye everything changed
Now it’s tourists and tour guides with passports in hand
And the border patrols on the old Rio Grande
With fences to separate and divide
Cause that side is yours and this side is mine
We all have our time and we all have our place
You can forget the names you can forget the face
But we’ll all be remembered by what’s left behind
And the legacy left in the passage of time
El Despoblado the magical land
Down by the bend in the old Rio Grande
Keeper of secrets no tongue could tell
For thousands of years she’s kept them so well