Heart of Texas

What is it about this state of Texas,

That instills such pride in all of us?

Be we, within its borders naturally born,

Or just a transplant - we toot it’s horn!

We stand tall, to proudly say,

"We’re a Texan, all the way!"

Her borders we will defend,

From the Alamo, to the very end!

From panhandle, and Red River reaches,

To Rio Grande, or East Coast beaches,

From her piney woods that lie in the east,

To her southwest desert, she’s a treat!

Be it miles of flatland, or her hill country,

Tall piney woods or just mesquite trees,

Crop growing land of fertile soil,

Or dry plains where ranchers toil.

She is urban with her cities tall,

And western in her cattle calls.

Beside business suits, and gowned debs,

Are cowboys & girls, in boots and Stetsons.

She is a home that is bred in the heart

Of every Texan. from the very start.

In no other state I’ve ever known,

Has this feeling been born in the bone

Texas boys soldiering in Viet Nam,

Heartsick from missing their native home,

Asked Heloise to find a source

For bluebonnet seeds, and in due course,

They received over 50 lbs. Of seeds,

Enough for all their following deeds.

Stomped out in beach sand with their feet,

The shape of Texas, fully complete!

That familiar shape sprouted Bluebonnets,

Until the crabs came to feast upon it.

But at the chapel, where the lepers stay,

May be Bluebonnets to this very day!