I have gone to visit the grave of a friend of mine
and as I walked thru the grave yard
I noticed this man kneeling down
by the grave of a child
And in his hand he held a big red rose and tears
were streaming down his cheeks
I walked over and laid a hand on his shoulder
and started to talk to him
And during the course of our conversation
an d in his broken English
This is the story just as he told it to me
He said to me Mister I've walked
down the street today
And I passed about the
big flower shop
I walked in and I asked the man in the shop I said
boss how much is for one red rose
Then he looked at me with one big frown
and he says it's one dollar please
But in a buyin' buyer was well dressed
blonde lady walked in
And she says how much is for
one red rose
And he looked at her with one big smile
and he says ten cents
Now I said boss how come to you to charge
me a dollar for the rose
And you charged the young
lady only ten cents
Then he said look Mister you tell
me why you want the rose
And maybe I give it to you for not
I said boss I'm a hard working man working
a railroad and gonna make too much money
And I got a little girl and her name was Rosa
o Rosa's just about this high boss
Every day when I'd come home
from the work
A little Rosa come running
to meet her papa
And she'd throw her little arms around my
neck and say papa and I'd say Rosa
But one day boss I've come home
from the work I don't see Rosa
I looked down by the railroad track
and I see one big crowd
I'd go down and I pushed the crowd this
a way and pushed the crowd that a way
There was at my feet lay my little Rosa
and that's why I want the rose boss
I wanna put it on little Rosa's grave
Then man he didn't say not but he picked
the biggest and the reddest rose
And he gave it to me
And I said thank you boss
thank you very much