INDIANOLA
"I've slept on this shore for 300 years
where the ocean gives rise to the plains.
Where Sieur de La Salle first sailed into Texas
not one single footprint remains.
The wind and the waves sing me long lullabies,
and I seldom find reason to open my eyes,
no voice stirs my spirit, no sound and no scene,
so I drift back to sleep... and I dream..."
And she looked out to sea, and on the horizon
were ships bearing into her bay,
and with sleep in her eyes, she stood in amazement
and watched as they headed her way.
And this bay it would come to be called Matagorda,
a new settlers' passage to the great Texas plains,
bringing captains and soldiers and princes and paupers,
and some would move inland and some would remain.
"My name is Johann, and I have brought settlers
from Germany to the New World,
they'll soon stake their claims from here to New Braunfels,
Gonzales, and Victoria.
But I'll make my home here on this sun-bleached shore,
and I'll build a city where none stood before,
a sheltering harbor from water and wind;
let the great ships of commerce roll in..."
And she looked out to sea, clear to the horizon
her piers jutted into the bay,
and she saw the lifeblood that bustled around her
and gave her all reason to stay.
And they named her the city of Indianola,
they plied her deep waters with timber and steel,
and they swore that no tempest could rattle or harm her,
but the ocean is mighty and the wind has its will.
Now Indianola, she's only a ghost
on the jagged shoreline of the old Texas coast
where the howling wild wind once raised up its hand
and buried her dreams in the sand.
"My name is Isaac, I came here to bury
the lost souls who perished that day
when the ocean rose twenty miles onto on the prairie
and washed it all into the bay.
And nothing that stood could escape the concussion
of an angry wave riding on a hurricane wind,
her homes torn asunder and splintered to driftwood,
till Indianola could not rise again."
And nothing was left but a few broken spirits
who wondered aloud where their fortunes might be,
and the vibrant port city of Indianola
now lies in the basin of God's angry sea.
"My name is Brian, I've traveled from Fort Worth
to stand where the sea meets the plains.
Where Sieur de La Salle first sailed into Texas,
now only his statue remains,
and nobody comes here but seagulls and tourists,
and not much remains but a few ragged scars,
so I came here to take off my hat in her honor
with a digital camera and a six-string guitar..."
Now Indianola, she's only a ghost
on the jagged shoreline of the old Texas coast
where the howling wild wind can raise up its hand
and bury your dreams in the sand.