THE LUCKENBACH MOON
Hondo Crouch

'Cept the potato chip man came by.

Then there was the moon.

We try to tell folks who come by here to look at our town

What a big, mean moon we have

But nobody'll believe it.

And last night it showed off.

The greatest ever.

It just hung there, darin' you to look at it,

Makin' silhouettes into things and things came alive.

It even shined plumb to the bottom of the canyon,

Under bluffs and plopped dark doughnuts 'round the bottom of
trees on top of the mountain.

A kind of moon that makes haunted houses uglier

And ugly girls prettier.

And little animals see farther and feel closer together.

Brave weeds even rose up to look 'round for lawn mowers.

Grandpa sat up in bed and said, "What's that?"

And the hair on Grandma's legs stood on end, he said.

On moonbrite nites like this, big eyed deer

Tiptoe into larger openings and they can dance better 'cause they can see where the rocks are at.

Their prancin' gets fancier and freer because they know mans
not there to darnpen the dance.

This kind of moonshine makes you crazy if you sleep in it,

they say

But I think you're crazy not to try it.

Momma even slept with the baby to protect it and I

Flounced in bed even in a thick rock house.

And when I went outside to see what was the matter

Somethin' scared cold chills up my back.

Everything was standin' at attention over new shadows.

Then what was that that moved?

Probably just a Nuthin'.

You know, a big full moon like ours is kinda like a person:

It needs help to show off, and last nite

All the clouds stayed home on purpose

to create a great solo.

We can't stand an encore!

It takes too much out of you.

Those who saw the moon said they could smell it.

One said it tasted like sin.

The quietness at the parkside road was deafenin'

And the little single couple sittin' there touched

the backs of their hands together.

` `Scare Me ! ' '

We've been tellin' strangers who come to Luckenbach

`Bout our Moon,

But I know they won't believe that

We have such a big moon