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I was born in 1883 the border of Austria HungaryWith the summer dust and the winter rain and the snow comes down from the Russian plainThe slow brown river flowed away to whereabouts we couldn’t sayAge 20 years a soldiers pack, at 25 the plough horse track I’d have seven children and a wife - I was marked for the peasant lifeI never learned to write or read - the strength of my back was all I needI never travelled far away - beasts to market back that dayWe need to see your papers you - don’t be a gypsy or a Jew Ch Read to me the names - longing to be free - the name is me Read to me the names - longing to be free - the name is me The years would follow all the same - till my cousin’s letter cameUncle read with shaking hand the words that came from a promised land Somewhere beyond the sea beyond the mind of a lad like meMy heart it didn’t hesitate I would choose to emigrate To my mother - shed no tears - back and rich in a few short yearsAs the train moved out I heard her cry - she could see right through my lieA dusty village from a crowded train the land I’d never see againA pack was all I had as mine - and a ticket for the Hamburg America Line Ch In the steerage decks we were crammed - families from every landAt night on the deck we would lie to get away from the babies cryWe stared for hours at the sea - wider than the plains of the old countryEurope slipping far behind the New World growing in my mind There was Sean from Clare and a Russian Jew and a man whose name I never knewSome they cried and some they stared - some they laughed and I was scared We rushed on deck so we could see a torch held high of liberty My cousin’s letter didn’t lie for the tall brown palaces touched the sky Ch The ship came in to New York town and the first class passengers walked on down With hundreds more and the strangers three - on a boat for the isle of libertyWith trunk and cap and pipe and shawl they sent us in to the immigrant hallWith careful eye they watched us walk - beware of the man with the mark of chalk And when at last my turn came the man he couldn’t say my name But they never turned me away from Europe I was here to stayThe name that the family say is the one the man gave us that dayLife was hard but I made my way from the time I came to the USA
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