The Devil wanted a place on earth,
You know, sort of a summer home,
A place to spend his vacation,
Whenever he wanted to roam.

So he picked out the state of Texas,
A place both wretched and rough,
Where the climate was much to his liking,
And the cowboys were hardened and tough.

He dried up the streams in the canyons,
And made sure that no rain would fall,
He dried up the lakes in the valleys,
And then baked and scorched it all.

Then over this barren country,
He transplanted shrubs from hell,
Like the cactus, thistle and prickly pear,
This climate suited them well.

Now his home was much to his liking,
But for animal, life he had none,
So he created strange crawling creatures,
That all mankind would shun.

First he made the rattlesnake,
With it's forked but not poisonous tongue,
Taught it to strike and rattle,
And how to swallow it's young.

Then he made scorpions and lizards,
And the horrible ugly horned toad,
He placed spiders of every description,
Under rocks by the side of the road.

Then he ordered the sun to shine hotter,
And hotter still,
Until even the cactus wilted,
And the ugly horned lizard took ill.

Then he gazed on his earthly kingdom,
As any great creator would,
He chuckled a bit up his coat sleeve,
And admitted that it was damned good.

T'was summer now and old Satan lay,
By a prickly pear to rest,
The sweat rolled off his swarthy brow,
So he took off his coat and vest.

"By Golly," he finally panted,
"I think that I did it too well,
I'm going back to where I came from,
'Cause Texas is hotter than Hell."

He Looked about at his minions,
And some looked back at him hard,
Then one came up to him smiling,
And said, "Take a card man, any card."

He recognized some of the fellows,
Magicians he'd met on his roam,
They ended up here for their card tricks,
And Satan knew he was home!