-
and the stars that had been overhead lay low in the west
-
and these young men fell afoul of others
-
and words were said that could not be put right again,
-
and in the dawn the kid and the second corporal knelt over
-
the boy from Missouri who had been named Earl
-
and they spoke his name but he never spoke back.
-
He lay on his side in the dust of the courtyard.
-
The men were gone.
-
The whores were gone.
-
An old man swept the clay floor within the cantina.
-
The boy lay with his skull broken in a pool of blood,
-
none knew by whom.