Take me back to Texas (poem)

So a friend of mine read one of my first posts, my essay/tribute to Texas.  She then requested that I post the poem I wrote about Texas, so here goes.  It’s called “Take me back to Texas.”

Take me back to Texas where the wild bluebonnets grow

Saddle up my quarter hoss, and southwest, ho! we’ll go

I long to see that Western sky o’er where my soul was born

Please take my back to Texas where I’ll no longer mourn


Take me back to Houston, the city of my birth

Where the victor of the Republic won the land of endless worth

I long to see my dad and granny and where I was conceived

Please take me back to Texas where I’ll no longer grieve


Take me back to San Anton’, the home of the Alamo

Then we can eat some barbecue at the Tejas Rodeo

I long to walk the River Walk like I did back in the day

Please take me back to Texas, where I’ll forever stay


Take me back to Austin where I can build my life

And raise a couple buckaroos with the help of my beautiful wife

I long to live and work and play in the City of the Violet Crown

Please take me back to Texas where I shall never frown


Take me back to Texas before it gets too late

Take me back to Texas, O please don’t make me wait

I’m weary of this ho-hum life in Suburbia, U.S.A.

Please take me back to Texas before I go astray


Bury me in Texas the day that I expire

As those bluebonnets use my remains to grow higher and higher

I long to look down from heaven and hear our national song:

“God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong!”

Take me back to Texas

Please, brother, take me home.

What is Texas?

As you may have read in my previous text post, I am a Texan.  As you may or may not know, we Texans have no shame.  If somebody asks us where we’re from, we will not hesitate to answer.  Even people like me who were born in Texas and don’t even remember living there are still proud Texans.  I may have been raised in Tennessee, but who cares?  I’m still a Texan.  We’ve all heard the expression, “You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the girl.”  Well, what I like to say is, “You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the man he becomes.”

I miss you, Texas.

So, for y’all Yankees who don’t know what being a Texan is really about, I’m here to tell you.  What is Texas?

Texas is food.  It’s mesquite smoked brisket, chicken fried steak, and chili (also known as the Big Three.)  Texas is Tex-Mex tacos with an ice cold Lone Star and Blue Bell ice cream for dessert.

BrisketTexas chiliChicken fried steakLone Star BeerTex-Mex tacoBlue Bell ice cream

Texas is historical.  Texas is the Alamo, San Jacinto, and Davy Crockett.  Texas is the old Republic.

Remember the AlamoSan Jacinto MonumentDavy Crockett quote

Texas is its own language.  Texans don’t just have Southern accents…they have Texan accents.  Texans say “y’all,” “howdy,” “fixin’,” and “yeehaw.”  And any nonalcoholic, carbonated beverage is coke.  Not to be confused with Coca-Cola.

How to speak Texan

Texas is nature.  Lots and lots of nature.  Texas is wide open spaces.  It’s mountains in the west, desert in the northern panhandle, hill country in the central area, 350 miles of gulf coast, and lots of prairie and rolling plains everywhere else.  Texas is longhorn cattle grazing in a field of bluebonnets.  Texas is an armadillo crossing in the middle of the road.  Texas is 825,000 acres of land in a single ranch (yes, the historical King Ranch is larger than the entire state of Rhode Island).

El PasoTexas hill countryBeachArmadillo crossing roadLonghorns and bluebonnetsKing Ranch

Texas isn’t just nature and country though.  Texas is big, diverse cities too.  Houston (my hometown, by the way) is the fourth largest city in the USA.  Austin is the capital of Texas and the live music capital of the world and home of the University of Texas, a famous tier 1 research university.  Dallas is the home of some of the biggest industries like restaurants, technology, and more.

HoustonUT TowerDallas

Texas is music.  Texas is George Strait, Willie Nelson, and George Jones.  But Texas isn’t just about country and western music either.  Texas is also ZZ Top, Janis Joplin, and yes, even Beyoncé.

George StraitWillie NelsonGeorge JonesZZ TopJanis JoplinBeyoncé Knowles

Texas is people.  Texas is culture.  Texas is cowboys, cowgirls, rodeo kings and queens, truckers, rockers, artists, and everything in between.  Texas is a warm, hospitable welcome by a complete stranger.  Texas is cowboy church on Sunday morning.

Rodeo cowboyCowboy church ceremony

Texas is the one and only Lone Star State.  Not only is it the only state whose flag can fly as high as the American flag, but it is also the only state that has the constitutional right to split into five different states.  Texas could survive without the USA, but the USA couldn’t survive without Texas.  After all, Texas does quite literally hold up the rest of the country on its back.

The USA as seen by a Texan

Texas is BIG.  Some may scoff at the idea that everything is bigger in Texas, but if only they knew.  The cowboy hats are big.  The trucks are big.  The food is big.  The cities are big.  The people are big.  And of course, the state itself is big (it would take a full 13 hours to drive all the way across Texas, east to west).  But most importantly, the state pride is incredibly huge!  They don’t say, “Don’t mess with Texas” for nothing!

Don't mess with Texas.

But most importantly, Texas is where I belong.  It’s where I want to build my life.  If I don’t die in Texas, I will be buried there.  I moved to Tennessee 19 years ago with my mother, but I left my heart in Texas.  I have to go and get it back.  I’m not saying that I can’t live somewhere else in the mean time, but I still am (and always will be) a Texan.  And I will eventually go back, no matter what it takes.

Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

“Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.”

What is Texas to you?  Even if you aren’t a Texan yourself, what do you think of when you hear the word “Texas?”  If you are, why do you love Texas?

You know, come to think of it, I’ve been asking the wrong question all along.  I shouldn’t be asking what is Texas.  The question being asked should really be, “What isn’t Texas?”!

Source: tsl.state.tx.us

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