Busted, broke
and beaten
In a beach
town in the south
It was
something I had eaten
And I was
taking nil by mouth
Puerto Arista
is a bad place
One rutted
highway long
Cinderblock
cantinas line the beach
And the
undertow is strong
A dirty beach
town on the southwest coast
Arista is where you go when you lose
I could stay
there a week, a month at most
Before they
got the news
No palms grow
in Puerto Arista,
The beach is
pebbled and brown
The only
people who stay here
Are the ones
who come to drown
I was sick as
a dog, out of money
Couldn’t eat
to stay thin
My partner
left when the going got funny
Couldn’t help
me, the shape I was in
A dirty beach town on the southwest coast
Arista is where you go when you lose
I could stay there a week, a month at most
Before they got the news
Six days in,
I was getting sicker
Still eating nothing
for bichos
The only
thing I could hold down was liquor
Sweating
through my skin and my clothes
I met my
guardian angel,
My savior in
a bar
Captain John
Yancey, US Marine Corps (retired)
And he had a
car
A dirty beach town on the southwest coast
Arista is where you go when you lose
I could stay there a week, a month at most
Before they got the news
John had
served in the Navy,
Won a Navy
Cross or two
That was in
the Pacific
In the middle
of World War Two
He enlisted
again in Korea
Charged the
hill at the Choisin Reservoir
Took three
bullets in the face
Before he led
his platoon home from the war
A dirty beach town on the southwest coast
Arista is where you go when you lose
I could stay there a week, a month at most
Before they got the news
He fought
segregation in Arkansas
Ran for the
Senate on peace
But Orval
Faubus defeated him
His ideals
didn’t change in the least
He ran a
liquor store in Little Rock
The most
decorated man in the state
He looked
like a ruined Roman bust
With his
bullet-riddled face
A dirty beach town on the southwest coast
Arista is where you go when you lose
I could stay there a week, a month at most
Before they got the news
He was
driving north from Guatemala,
Headed for
Cuernavaca and the sun
He needed
someone to help him drive
And he
treated me like his son
We got to
Cuernavaca,
Still a
beautiful town
He put me up
in a hotel
He introduced
me all around
A dirty beach town on the southwest coast
Arista is where you go when you lose
I could stay there a week, a month at most
Before they got the news
John saved my
life on that dirty beach
And gave me a
new one in town
I owe John a
debt for that
And I thank
him for not letting me drown
Captain John
Yancey, US Marine Corps (Retired)
Died in
Arkansas in ‘85
He has legion
posts named after him
And he was
the bravest man alive
A dirty beach town on the southwest coast
Arista is where you go when you lose
I could stay there a week, a month at most
Before they got the news
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