Eulogio was only sixteen
When he was encouraged to leave the Philippines
His family helped him pack
and sent him on his way
to that land of fortune
the good old USA
A place imagined to be paved with gold
which all could share, young and old

Eulogio looked forward
to arriving at this land of opportunity
Who knows? Fortune and fame
may be his destiny!

He was not alone in this journey to that far away place
There were many of his countrymen who also wanted a taste
of that good life depicted in the movies they've seen
They were so naive, these immigrants still in their teens

When they finally arrived on this American soil
They soon discovered how hard they must toil
And as time moved on, they would find
there was fear, hate and prejudice
against their kind

The only opportunity that was open to these young men
was manual labor in the farm fields
or cooking, washing dishes in the kitchen

There were no "pinay" women for these men to date
so when they dated white women
for them, the white men were full of hate
The hate was so deep, a law was passed
banning them from dating or marrying whites
And if they did, they were harassed
Where was the promised great life?

But Eulogio and the others worked hard
And survived all the strife
They would send money home
with letters lying about the good life

Some of these men were lucky
to find love so strong
with white women who married them anyway
even though it was supposed to be wrong
Some married women of other ethnicity
and all lived in poor man's simplicity

Some years later, the still single men
who longed for a wife at their side
got to go back to the motherland
and each find themselves a bride
Eulogio was one of these men
He had been writing to a cousin of a friend
He decided he would go there and make her his wife
and bring her back here to share his life

Eulogio was by now age forty-two
And his bride-to-be only twenty-four
She was nervous about it all
not knowing what the future had in store

Her father made a dying command
as he was on his death bed
that she was to marry this man
And thus they were soon wed

Months had passed
a child was due
Paperwork was processed
soon to bring home two

With the help of his fraternal brothers
members of the LDT
Eulogio, wife and baby
were soon off to sea

Returning back to America
a happy man was he
Because though he was getting older
He now had his own family

Now life seemed good, life seemed fair
with a family to raise
with whom his life can now be shared

He worked very hard to keep his family well fed
and purchased a home, a roof over their head

Events came, events passed
Eulogio's life did not last
He was only 71 when his heart expired
The years of hard work took its toll
his body was tired