i am just a poor boy though my story s seldom told i have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles such are promises all lies and jests still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest when i left my home and my family i was no more than a boy in the company of strangers in the quiet of the railway station running scared laying low seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go looking for the places only they would know asking only workman s wages i come looking for a job but i get no offers just a come on from the whores on seventh avenue i do declare there were some times when i was so lonesome and i took some comfort there in the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade and he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down and cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame i am leaving i am leaving but the fighter still remains