By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
The song answers that wonder is missed in real time: no first flower or swallow is seen, only the swarm, burial, cheating, and a late claim that Texas is home.
Where the earlier lyric watched a flower in spring, this one begins from belatedness and damaged perception. The swallow is never singular here; it arrives already as swarm, which makes amazement feel immediately overwhelmed. Burial, cheating, and the dismissal of wonder turn homeland into something grimly settled rather than lovingly chosen.
A companion 'The song' that begins from belatedness and damaged perception: 'I never saw a flower when it was spring', 'No way seeing the first swallow / It is suddenly in a swarm'. Amazement is overwhelmed before it can settle, and homeland turns grim: 'Now we are all barrowed in the ground / Killing and cheating is first / No power in wonder / Get rid of it'. The placeless question and flat answer close it -- 'Where are you from / Texas now / Is all of our home' -- settlement chosen by default rather than love.