Borderline - Slaid Cleaves

In the still of the desert, in the light of the moon

Armando walks all alone

And the river ahead holds promise and dread

And he’s 900 miles from his home.

He pays the coyotes,

Dodges La Migra

Walks for 400 days.

When he finally hits Austin

The boomtown is busting

But he takes what the contractor pays.

When the love for family is stronger than fear

When the desperation sets in,

A man will cross any line that is drawn

And who’s to say its a sin.

And he crossed himself at the borderline.

He wired the dollars to Elena back home

as he roomed with 10 desperate men.

When the builders had enough, the INS cuffed him

And its back to the border again.

A tearful reunion with family and friends,

but soon the reality sets in.

There’s no work to be found in the dry desert ground,

He must head for Estados again.

From Guadalajara come a man with no name,

He said you can have all that you need,

There’s no contract to sign but the terms are your life,

If you take my money and seed.

When the love for family is stronger than fear,

When the desperation sets in.

A man will cross any line that is drawn

And who’s to say it’s a sin,

And he crossed himself at the borderline.

Payments were made, the seed it was sown

Armondo watched the crop grow,

Even his brother-in-law in the army

was in on the plan from the go.

Seven months gone, and the crop gathered in

But the brother has a plan of his own

He orders a raid, the army invades

He takes what the village has grown.

In from the west came the man with no name,

He said someone must pay with their life

We know your brothers, your father, your mother,

Your children, your sister, your wife

Now we cannot touch your sister’s young husband

Tu Cunao is a military man

But you can decide who lives and who dies

And he placed the gun in his hand.

When the love for family is stronger than fear

When the desperation sets in

A man will cross any line that is drawn

And who’s to say its a sin,

And he crossed himself at the borderline.

In the still of the desert in the light of the moon,

Armando walks all alone.

And the river ahead

Holds promise and dread

And he’s 900 miles from his home.