Pancho’s Boy

(Harmony James  – J Albert & Sons)

I wish I was as free as a dandelion seed
I wrote it in a letter, tied it to a tumbleweed
The wind blows from the west and it blows hard all summer long
Gets into your bloodshot eyes

I swear I heard them talking over the cold night air
On a clear night you could see a match strike from their place to over here
I smelled their pouch tobacco and I caught those hoof print trails
But every time I stayed inside

Papa says no child of mine was raised
To set up house or live out her days
In such a God forsaken place
Or for hitching up with Pancho’s boy

One day when I was drawing water from the spring
I saw him over yonder so I lit out fast and hid
Lay low beside the brush pile where that rattlesnake had been
I listened and I closed my eyes

Papa says no child of mine was raised
To set up house or live out her days
In such a god forsaken place
Or for hitching up with Pancho’s boy

Well I hear tell that there was once a woman died
At the end of a long hard winter carrying his child
I rode out twice and saw the earth disturbed a while
I never even learned her name

And papa says to me when I turn seventeen
I’m headed east to find myself a gentleman of means
Each sun up it gets closer and I’m worrying it seems
And wishing that I had more time

Papa says no child of mine was raised
To set up house or live out her days
In such a god forsaken place
Or for hitching up with Pancho’s boy

From this valley they say you are going
We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
For they say you are taking the sunshine
That brightened our lives for a while