(Little Rosa was her name and still I cry in vain
My world won't be the same since she’s gone from me)

I have gone to visit the grave of a friend of mine
And as I walked thru the grave yard, I noticed this man kneeling down by the grave of a child
And in his hand he held a big red rose and tears were streaming down his cheeks
I walked over and laid a hand on his shoulder and started to talk to him
And during the course of our conversation, and in his broken English
This is the story just as he told it to me. He said to me:

"Mister I'm a-walkin' down the street a-today
And I passed about a big a-flower shop
I walked in and I asked the man in the shop, I said ’Boss how much a for one red rose?'
And he looked at me with one big frown and he says it's one dollar please
But in a buyin' [?] a swell a dressed blonde lady walked in
And she says how much is for one red rose?
And he looked at her with a one big smile and he says a ten cents
Now I said 'Boss how come you a charge me a dollar for the rose and you charged the a-young lady only ten cents?'
Then he say "A-look Mister you tell me why you want the rose and maybe I give it to you for not'
I said a-boss I'm a hard working man working the railroad and only make a three dollar a day
And I got a little girl and her name is Rosa
Rosa’s just about this high boss
Every day when I come home from work, a little Rosa come running to meet her papa
She throw her little arms around my neck and say papa and I say Rosa
But one a-day boss I come home from work I don’t a-see Rosa
I looked down by the railroad track and I see one a-big a-crowd
I go down and I pushed a the crowd this a way and I push a the crowd that a way
There boss at my feet lay my little Rosa and that's a-why I want the rose boss
I wanna put it on little Rosa’s grave
Then man he don't a-say a not, but he picked the biggest and the reddest rose, and he give it to me
And I said 'Thank you boss, thank you very much'"
(And though she’s gone you see she's still the world to me
To me she'll always be that little girl of mine)