IN TEXAS: VARIATIONS ON A THEME OF BORGES

1 8 Y I N T E X A S : V A R I A T I O N S O N A T H E M E O F B O R G E S R O B E R T M E Z E Y I know this place. The endless prairie, As on his own continent. A cry, distant and solitary On the wind, goes silent, And in this emptiness somewhere A bird I cannot see Sings over the clamor of plague and war – Old calamity Long forgotten in swirls of dust. Here too the locust sings Where bands of Indians once passed And wild mustangs. Nor do I need these stars to say The undying names below – Junín, where Suárez saved the day, Thermopylae, Alamo. As everywhere, so here, A radiance that now and then Briefly illumines this obscure Exile from oblivion. ...