Hello, my name is Walter

I'm an old man

An alone man

Hmmm....

I like to spend my evenings

Drinking beer and telling stories

In the bar down by the corner

The strangers that I meet

They're all my friends

And Cathi she wrote me

A poem one time

I hang it on my wall

'Cause it's a little bit of history

Of mine.

I told her I'm no hero

I am just an old man

A veteran

Of a war that took my family

And left me here without my country

My home.

Poland in the spring

I'd love to see her

But the Germans took her from me

And the Russians made sure

I could never go back

When I was just a young man

I was in a concentration camp

I ran away

I walked across Europe

Went to Italy

I joined the Polish Free Forces

And fought for my world.

What a sad sad time

What a cold hard time

It was

But all things must end

And so it did

I came to Canada

And this is where I'll stay

Now I am just an old man

Never married

Never will

And Poland is just a dream

I'll never live to see

Again

So won't you come and join me

And sit for a while

I am no hero

But I'd like to tell my story

To you

Hello

My name is Walter

I am just an old man

Hmmm...

©Catherine M. Harris 9/1/1988