Alice Corbin

From “New Mexico Folk-songs”

THE OLD ways have changed since you walked here,

But worst of all is the way the people have become.

They have no hearts, and their minds are like putty,

And if you ask for conversation, they might as well be dumb!

Though I am old, and my sight is not good,

And I don’t hear as well—muy verdad—as some,

With my stick I can walk faster than many,

And my mind travels faster than a man’s with no tongue!

The young have no thought for their elders,

Their ranches are now no bigger than your thumb,

The young men work in the mines in Colora’o,

Or they sit and warm their stomachs in the sun!

The girls spend their money on big hats and velvet,

But when they would marry, they haven’t the sum;

And the old songs and dances are forgotten,

As the Saints will be forgotten—if they go on as they’ve begun!

I have gone looking through hillsides and canyons,

Through all the placitas where we used to run;

But the old ways have changed since you walked here,

And a goat is more sociable than a man that is dumb!