The Yellow Rose Of Texas

The yellow-bellied rose
of Texas
was blooming like a bitch,

the snitch, the witch,
dead in the ditch,
the Mexicans

lynched by the white man
in his effort
to make Texas white

back in the Thirties
my relatives
hogged-tied and killed.

Much has changed
and much
has stayed the same.

Here in my county
the Klan is blooming white,
the white rose of Texas,

the cops are Klan,
the judges are Klan
and

when they burn a cross
on your lawn
it’s by legal means.

Their hood
is still the Texas flag
even if Willie Nelson sings it.