April Twilights and Other Poems

<h3><SPAN name="SPANISH_JOHNNY" id="SPANISH_JOHNNY"></SPAN>SPANISH JOHNNY</h3> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0"><span class="letra">T</span>he old West, the old time,<br/></span> <span class="i4">The old wind singing through<br/></span> <span class="i0">The red, red grass a thousand miles,<br/></span> <span class="i4">And, Spanish Johnny, you!<br/></span> <span class="i0">He’d sit beside the water-ditch<br/></span> <span class="i4">When all his herd was in,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And never mind a child, but sing<br/></span> <span class="i4">To his mandolin.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The big stars, the blue night,<br/></span> <span class="i4">The moon-enchanted plain:<br/></span> <span class="i0">The olive man who never spoke,<br/></span> <span class="i4">But sang the songs of Spain.<br/></span> <span class="i0">His speech with men was wicked talk&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i4">To hear it was a sin;<br/></span> <span class="i0">But those were golden things he said<br/></span> <span class="i4">To his mandolin.<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The gold songs, the gold stars,<br/></span> <span class="i4">The world so golden then:<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the hand so tender to a child<br/></span> <span class="i4">Had killed so many men.<br/></span> <span class="i0">He died a hard death long ago<br/></span> <span class="i4">Before the Road came in;<br/></span> <span class="i0">The night before he swung, he sang<br/></span> <span class="i4">To his mandolin.<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</SPAN></span></div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />