Cold Spring

There's no one waiting in Wisconsin
with their arms flung wide
the winters aren't bad in Austin
but I got Cold Spring on my mind.

There are winters here in Austin
you don’t need to own a shovel
and no work days you stay home from
on account of the weather

and you wonder why I complain
well, it just ain’t Cold Spring
in the rain

I had a crazy painter lover
from New Orleans Houston Denver
city daughter of a doctor
we go nowhere real soon

she hasn’t asked that we stay friends yet
now that lovers over
it’s okay, I’ve been busy
in a Cold Spring memory

She spent some time at the university
and heard it all but the
Cold Spring memory

A northern high school buddy
climbs a salesman's ladder
his wife makes good lasagna
and they came here for the weather

Next year their daughter will be three
with a British Texas accent and a
Cold Spring memory

Just an hour from Milwaukee
eighty miles from Chicago
are the tourist vista lagos
that I call home

and when I think of Cold Spring
don’t even ask me why
I get those tiny
Cold Spring teardrops
in my eye

So I guess I’ll go to Cold Spring
and buy myself a shovel
and teach their children Sunday School
and forget about I am

I guess I’ll go to Cold Spring
where there are no cops or stop signs
with the weekly farmer socials
at the local tavareen

I can almost feel the breeze
I’ll be writing Central Texas memories

---

David L. White

Pilot Press - Austin 1980