His Heart Was So Full Of Mischief - Charles John Quarto
The moon made its slow poke circle
From the Highland Mall to the Capitol dome
May scientists forgive me my reference points
But I spent the evening home
Whilst the powdery Saturday caravan
Showered and wound up downtown
Yet the moon took a dim view of romance
Because of all the clouds
I sat there ill my dark garden
Like a messenger out of work
While my neighbors played country music
The kind that doesn't hurt
The moon kept shining and hiding
Like a love against the law
So I closed my eyes in sequence
And I sang to what I saw
Texas swing out of your saddles
Abilene pick up your cards
Houston blink up from your blueprints
Dallas stop smiling so hard
One of your cowboys is missing
By the name of Hondo Crouch
His heart was so full of mischief
It grinned open and slipped out
From raising sheep and eyebrows
to singing asleep with beer
He was the Sunday mayor of Luckenbach
And the grand imagineer
He held conversations looking sideways
Tugging his mustache toy
His remarks always seemed like secrets
Kept between gray haired boys
Heck, he was a talking treasure
Though his tongue stayed in his cheek
He spread a blanket of stories over Texas
So other storytellers could sleep