Ballad Of Lou Marsh

In the streets of New York City
When the hour was getting late
There were young men armed with knives and guns,
Young men armed with hate
And Lou Marsh stepped between them
And died there in his tracks
For one man is no army, when a city turns its back
 
 And now the streets are empty, and now the streets are dark
 So keep an eye on shadows and never pass the park
 For the city is a jungle when the law is out of sight
 And death lurks in El-Barrio, with the orphans of the night
 
There were two gangs approaching
In Spanish Harlem town
The smell of blood was in the air
The challenge was laid down
He felt their blinding hatred
As he tried to save their lives
But they broke his peaceful body
With their fists and staves and knives

Shall Lou Marsh lie forgotten
In a cold and silent grave
Or will his memory linger on
In those he tried to save?
And those of us who knew him
Will now and then recall
And shed a tear on poverty
The tombstone of us all