The Alpha-Bestiary
A is for Arliss,
A mellow armadillo from Amarillo,
Who, one spring, all sad and lonely,
Plodded the prairie from Pampa to Plainview
In search of a mate to share his fate and pillow.
Down in the Breaks and up in the wheat fields
Arliss wandered, past gophers and rattlers,
Through feedlots and cornfields and hog wallows,
‘Til autumn augured winter was coming.
He wanted a she; it wasn’t to be.
Poor Arliss, the mellow armadillo from Amarillo.
A is for Arliss,
A mellow armadillo from Amarillo,
Who, one spring, all sad and lonely,
Plodded the prairie from Pampa to Plainview
In search of a mate to share his fate and pillow.
Down in the Breaks and up in the wheat fields
Arliss wandered, past gophers and rattlers,
Through feedlots and cornfields and hog wallows,
‘Til autumn augured winter was coming.
He wanted a she; it wasn’t to be.
Poor Arliss, the mellow armadillo from Amarillo.
Armadillos are placental mammals that are common in Texas. Oneida, Texas, changed its name to Amarillo (Spanish for "yellow"), perhaps because of the yellow wildflowers in the area, or perhaps because it was near Amarillo Lake and
ReplyDeleteAmarillo Creek, which derived their names from the yellow soil along their banks. Similarly, Glasgow, Texas, changed its name to Sutton and then to Pampa, after the Argentinian grasslands. Plainview, Texas, is located on the Llano Estacado (the "Staked Plains"), one of the largest mesas in North America.