DRIFTING INTO EL ROJOS CANTINA

He drifts into town on his

faithful quarter horse called Moose 

who has a three-legged gait

which gives him saddle sores 

when riding miles from place to place.

A desert wind storm hits them hard,

as he pulls his cowboy hat down his face 

so the sand won't sting his deep-set brown eyes,

nearby he sees a faded sign in red lettering advertising 

"EL ROJOS CANTINA " as it bangs against 

the cracked adobe and tiled-roofed building.

A pretty senorita dressed in a ruby-red dress 

greets the unshaven drifter as he stumbles 

through the double-saloon doors,

the cantina is dark and dank with smells of 

stale cigarette smoke and cheap whiskey,

hunger and thirst overwhelm him in that 

he ignores the stench of the bar and eatery.

The brazen and sultry woman sits at his 

table and begins singing in a husky voice 

while a man with a guitar accompanies her, 

male patrons smile at her flamboyant low-cut

dress as she begins to sing in a seductive voice:

Sranger, you are handsome to look at 

as I stare at you and purr like a cat,

let's get together and see 

if something develops between you and me,

my name is Ventura,  a lucky charm, 

I want to be your woman and mean no harm,

please take me away from this place,

so I will not die in disgrace.

It didn't take much convincing,

Ventura and the drifter rode off together 

into the red sunset after the sand storm 

on a long and bumpy ride on Moose with 

his three-legged gait while the senorita

hung onto her dress which blew over her face.

Years passed and Ventura lying down and close to death,

confesses she loved a man named Hildago who

left her at the altar and filled her with humiliation before 

family and friends until a drifter swept in and 

saved her from mortification and disgrace, 

her man of many years weeps for the woman who was

his lucky charm wearing a red dress whom he met at 

El Rojos Cantina during a tumultuous desert storm.