DALLAS, TX.- The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s email came a few hours after Heritage Auctions’ event benefitting the North Texas Food Bank went live.

Eagles co-founder, singer and songwriter Don Henley asked how he could participate in DFW Sports Superstars Are "In This Together.” In the end he offered two extraordinary items: newly handwritten lyrics to one of his band’s most famous songs, and a guitar signed by the band’s current line-up.

This is the same auction featuring a one-of-a-kind painting of the Dallas Cowboys’ most famous play created and signed by its architects, Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson; a player-for-a-day experience and team-signed soccer ball from FC Dallas; four plaza-level tickets and a team meet-and-greet with the Dallas Stars; and dozens of rare autographed collectibles from stars and legends of the Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars.

100 percent of the total proceeds, including the entire Buyer’s Premium, will go to the North Texas Food Bank, whose resources have been strained to the breaking point in recent weeks, with so many of our neighbors left hungry and in need.

Bidding is open now and runs through May 13 at ha.com/inthistogether, culminating that night with a live online auction that begins at 8 p.m. Dallas time.

One of the items Henley, a longtime Dallasite, offered was the handwritten lyrics to "Desperado," the title song to the Eagles’ second album in 1973. He co-wrote it with his friend and co-conspirator Glenn Frey. Of the all the many hits and mainstays in the band's catalog, "Desperado" is the standard – the song everyone knows, even if they do not know who wrote or sang it.

Henley has said he never did like his recorded vocals – captured in a few takes, recorded far from home, the London Philharmonic Orchestra breathing down their necks. Yet the song endures, an American classic recorded in England by boys, including a young Texan, yearning for home.

These, of course, are not the original lyrics, but the words Henley wrote at April's end specifically for this auction, this moment. He created a special, one-of-a-kind keepsake for one lucky fan: handwritten lyrics to a song that continues to resonate with fans and seems quite appropriate in these disquieting times.

The other item he sent in was an acoustic guitar signed by the current iteration of the band featuring Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Deacon Frey, Vince Gill and Henley.

Only a few weeks ago, the Eagles were in the middle of their "Hotel California" tour, playing that classic 1976 album in its entirety – for the first time, ever – along with a greatest-hits set. Shows lasted for more than three hours – a break from the 24/7 news cycle, Henley would say from the stage. The reviews from the road were stellar. "The Eagles Fly High With Epic 'Hotel California’ Show at Madison Square Garden,” read the Rolling Stone headline.

And then ... it was over, for how long no one knew. A global pandemic had sidelined the band until who knows when. Dates for the spring had been reset until fall 2020. But only days ago the tour was given a new restart: fall 2021.

This is the closest anyone's getting to the Eagles for more than a year.