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Note On a Cactus NeedleDropped off by a stolen van, fifty miles from I-10Dreams of a new beginning, quickly became the endTwo jugs of stagnant water, went fast in that heatHe sensed that his dust n bones, would soon be wildflower seedsSo with a pen in his hand, he collapsed in the sandAmong fire ants and cholla beetlesHe grew weak and the wind, blew from the north and pinnedHis note on a cactus needleThough there’s two lands side by side, and the same sun shines on bothHe had to move his family, to keep them fed and clothedHis wife’s waiting in LA, five kids in a storage roomHe promised that he’d follow, with the next smuggler’s moonHe’s got an uncle up the coast, pickin’ lettuce n artichokesThe labor’s lawful but they’re illegalBut all his love and all his plans, written on fickle winds of chanceAnd a note on a cactus needleHe’d found an old Cessna, wrecked in a red dust ravineWith a hundred kilo cargo, of hash and Mexican greenThe sun was bright and the ache behind his eyes was dullSo he took the dark RayBans, off that poor pilot’s skullNow was that a crow in the sky, waiting on him to dieOr an angel with wings of an eagleNight threshed his soul from the chaff, and let his lonely epitaphBe the note on a cactus needleHe bargained with the sky, as he lay there in the sandBut time and fate don’t hire themselves out as handsAnd before they reached his cheeks, ev’ry teardrop burned and driedAs he slipped away in shadow, wrapped in sheets of white moonlightFlaming sands became streets of gold, cos in that kingdom ev’ry soulWalks the cities rich and regalIn east LA a woman weeps, cos somehow her heart can readThe note on a cactus needleWeeks later the border patrol Found the trail of one more lost soulThat agent shook his head aloneThen took the RayBans off the bones…©2007 Robert George