Words: Scotty Dimond

Music: Vernon Service

She was barely past her eighteenth year

When she met Cactus Pete McGrew

He was apologetically handsome

In a way that he never knew

He was running from the U.S. Marshalls

For the murder of several men

But the way he touched her was anything

But murderous in its intent

Chorus:

She fell in love with an outlaw

And he fell in love with a queen

He'd shot up half New Mexico

In places she'd never been

Like a Rodeo and Juliet

How these star crossed lovers ever chose

But they lived like hot lovers

And died under the covers

The Cactus and the sweet Desert Rose

He gave 'er her first taste of whiskey

At the Too Far Gone Saloon

Then they stumbled into the darkness

Made love under the light of the moon

He taught her the things that a lady

Should never want to learn

How to shoot from twenty paces

And cheat at cards an' never get burned

Chorus

Well that day finally came when Cactus

Asked his Rose to come along

They followed the stars an' they fell out of bars

Like you hear in a cowboy song

But they were runnin' on bad luck

And they hit two bullets that day

Now two flowers are standing in front of

Two unmarked side by side graves

Chorus