Paean to Ruta Lee
(Hail to Edgar Allan Poe and his timeless Annabel Lee)
It was many and many a year ago
In a city at the West Fork-Clear Fork confluence of the Trinity,
That an actress there lived whom you may know
By the name of Ruta Lee;
And this actress she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by the City
At the West Fork-Clear Fork confluence of the Trinity.
Her love for Fort Worth was stronger by far than the love
For those in Hollywood or even Big D,
Of many far richer than we.
But neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Nor a siege of atrocious foul weather for Steel Magnolias
Could ever dissever the soul of Fort Worth
From the soul of the Younger-Than-Springtime
Beautiful Ruta Lee.
Don Woodard
Fort Worth