My Filipino Rose

(album: I've Been Everywhere - 1963)

The postman dropped a letter in my door
The address wasn't plain, but I could see
It had traveled far across the great Pacific
From my Filipino Rose across the sea

The writing from her trembling hand was blurred
The paper, it was badly stained with tears
It read, They tell me you have wed another
After I have longed and waited all these years

But I'm still praying that the trade winds
Send you sailing across the blue
In my harbor I've dreamed you'll anchor
Where your lonely Filipino waits for you

I promised her that I'd return some day
I told her she'd won my heart and hand
I told her a lie, 'cause I was lonely
Far from home, a stranger in that foreign land

She wrote, I've watched the driftwood float on by
I've watched the sea roll on its weary way
I've watched the silver sails out on the ocean
Hoping you might return to me someday

The chains of love may never set you free
But through the years, as mem'ries fonder grow
This broken heart will always wait for you, dear
It was signed, Your lonely Filipino Rose