AURO'S LAST FLING AT EVENTS CENTER

Mrs. DE LA GARZA'S PARTY
with apologies to Edwin Arlington Robinson

Old Aurorita De la Garza, partying one night
At the Events Center, in old Browntown
And there with some by-invitation-only friends,
Who loved the district clerk of 30 years
After all that time, paused warily.
The center was without an enemy near;
And Ricardo Longoria, MCing for her said aloud,
For no man else in Browntown to hear:

"Well, Aurorita, we have the harvest moon
Again, and we may not have many more;
The pajaro is on the wing, the poet says,
And you and I have said it here before.
Drink to the boid." He raised up to the light
The tarro that he had gone so far to fill,
And answered huskily: "Well, Aurorita,
Since you propose it, I believe I will."

And then, with Bishop Dan Flores and the Alcalde Martinez there
Blessed as she was with Red Masses, a score,
She stood and basked in the plaudits given her
Like Judge Dancy's ghost blowing a silent horn.
Below Ricardo on the dais, yet not far, was Treviño
Da Former Mayor there, where friends had honored him,
A phantom salutation of the dead
Rang thinly till the bishop's eyes were dim.

Then, Aurorita, as a mother lays her sleeping child
Down tenderly, fearing it may awake,
Set the jug down slowly at her feet
With trembling care, knowing that most things break;
And only when assured that on the table firm
It stood, as the uncertain lives of men
Assuredly did not, she paced away,
And with his her hand extended paused again:

"Well, Mr.Magallaners, we have not met like this
In a long time; and many indictments they have come
But none to us, I fear, since last it was
We had a drop together. Welcome home!"
Convivially returning to John Wood,
Again she raised the jug up to the light;
And with an acquiescent quaver said:
"Well, Ralph Cowen, if you insist, I might.

"Only a very little, Ralph
For auld lang syne. No more, sir; that will do."
So, for the time, apparently it did,
And Aurorita evidently thought so too;
For soon amid the silver loneliness
Of night the Consul Quilantan, uninvited, raised up his voice and sang,
Secure, with only two guests listening,
Until the whole harmonious landscape rang—

"For Aurorita, ahorita," the weary throat gave out,
The last word wavered; and the song being done,
She raised again the jug regretfully
And shook her head, and was again alone.
After 30 long years, there was not much that was ahead of her
And there was nothing in the county below—
Where strangers would have shut the many doors
That many friends had opened for her long ago.

Goodbye Auro, you've had a good run
But like all ill-gotten gains
You have surrounded yourselves with sycophants
and smooth-talking, suave pedants
Who told you things you want to hear
And now it's gone, you're free and clear
Of evil law enforcement guys who want to know
And who you've told – where all the skeletons are –
Slither away, it's best we think...while you're still free