Passing Through Albuquerque

　　 by John Balaban

　　 At dusk， by the irrigation ditch gurgling past backyards near the highway，locusts raise a maze of calls in cottonwoods.

　　 A Spanish girl in a white party dress strolls the levee by the muddy water where her small sister plunks in stones.

　　 Beyond a low adobe wall and a wrecked car men are pitching horseshoes in a dusty lot. Someone shouts as he clangs in a ringer.

　　 Big winds buffet in ahead of a storm，rocking the immense trees and whipping up clouds of dust， wild leaves， and cottonwool.

　　 In the moment when the locusts pause and the girl presses her up-fluttering dress to her bony knees you can hear a banjo， guitar， and fiddle

　　 playing "The Mississippi Sawyer" inside a shack. Moments like that， you can love this country.