i left my home and my parents at the age of 21 in a family of eight children i was the youngest son little choice was left to me but to go to a foreign land oh who will mourn the passing of this wandering chinaman i arrived in this country in 1925 a sixteen hour day just to try and stay alive when i saved enough thought i was doin fine i lost everything i had in the crash of 29 seven long years gambling was my trade i d wander from city to city on the money that i made when i d saved enough and thought that i was done then came a world war in 1941 oh lonely and lonely and lonely was my life i decided to marry and sent away for a wife i settled down to a family no longer could i roam i gave up my dream of ever reaching home i lost my precious wife in 1965 without her love and strength how do i stay alive and as for my daughter she s gone to sleep with a red haired man and i lost my youngest son in the war in vietnam the letter said he died to protect democracy but why he had to go at all is still a mystery to me and as for my oldest son for him there is no hope he turns all his money to the man that sells him dope  so i sit in this park until the nighttime comes and i worry for my daughter and i think about my sons i sit inside this park and stare into my hand oh who will mourn the passing of this wandering chinaman 