Excuse me do you mind if I bum a smoke
I looked at the man 
Whom looked like he was at the end of his rope 

His hands were weathered
His face had wrinkles to the extreme
He looked hardened and a  little mean

I don’t smoke I said
Politely as  I tried to pass by
But just then I stopped
Something inside of me said - listen- just try

Are you hungry i asked
And his face lighted up 
I know a little place around  the corner 
You and I can eat and talk 

I walked with the old man
He was Unsure on his feet
I wondered  what I got myself into
As I escorted him to his seat 

We both ate a good meal
He ate like he hadn’t eaten in years
I asked him what his life story was
he looked taken back
No one’s ever asked me that your the first
Usually people look at me like I’m a piece of dirt

You know I served in the army 
I was drafted I didn’t just enlist
I was afraid to die
I was just a kid 

I was captured in the Philippines 
A long time ago 
I endured the batten death march
Now I walk real slow 

The batten death march 
I’ve never heard of that
I was of a younger generation 
Who usually didn’t give a rats ass 

He enlightened me
Of the brutality of war
How 70,000 American sbd Filipinos 
Never wavered in what they stood for 

Force marched for  miles and miles
Starved beaten and ill
Falling out on the march
Was like being buried alive in an anthill 

We were marched to a prisoner of war camp
Some 64 miles away
Those whom couldn’t walk or fell out
Were shot immediately along the way

We sat for a long time  in that  little place
I listened to his story for hours 
Tears freely rolling down my face 

Now I’m in my 80’s 
I’ll never forget that man
Who taught me of the batten death march 
  And the struggle of survival of Filipino and Americans 

I’m in my 80’s now
I think back to that time and place
When I met a little man
Whom told  me things ive never had to face

The struggle to survive a march if death
No ill  never forget that man
Who taught me of the batten death march
And the struggle of survival of Filipino and Americans