There is a highway
They call Eighty
Used by those
Heading east from
The Martian colony
To get somebarbecue.
But many choose instead
To play and sway
On the Martian stream.
The river rolls with twists
And turns
Often carrying tubers
[Not the kind you eat]
Making merriment
As they pass the Martindale bridges
Heading east to
Staples with its own Staples Center
Fentress with its own post office
Yet born in the 1800s as Riverside.
Prairie Lea, first settled in 1839,
Named after Sam's bride Lea
And home to Scott H. Biram
Who is claimed by Fentress too.
Yet City Market is the spot
Where the firesare always hot
And thesausages have a flavor
People drivehours just to savor.
The town gets an annual bump
From Luling's famous
Watermelon Thump
And on the outskirts lie
Lavender Fields with a big wide sky
And a view of the world's largest
Gasoline mall and maxi-mart
The beavers ’delight they call Buc-ee's.
Now Martindale was born in 1855
Miss Nancy kept it dry
And people grew seed corn
And cottonseed for oil.
But today the town
Is back to 1923
At least on future TV.
Yet it is the spirit of music
Cultivated by Kent and his kids
That is its life's breath
And not even death
Can break the bonds
That have forged a strength
To face the future with amazing hope.
There are also stories
Of a great darkness
Tonkawa and Comanche
The fight at Plum Creek
The bad blood on both sides
The Buffalo Hump raids
The betrayals that did not end well
But helped forge the Texas spirit
Chronicled in song and story
Where all the gory past
Has morphed into a glory
Where yellow roses
And bluebonnets
And majestic oaks abound.
Highway 80 runs through
Hallowed ground.
