It hardly seems a long time just a minute of the day
  When the man who stood beside me more than gave himself away
  The food stain on his spotted shirt a gray beard on his face
  A man composed of many names so I just called him Ace
  
  Ace can't read and Ace can't write and
  He sleeps on a bench at night
  A little man the world has left behind
  He ain't bitter he ain't sweet
  Makes his living on the street
  Never knowin' what he's gonna find
  
  Born in Mississippi pickin' cotton as a child
  Left soon for the city where he heard that life was wild
  That was fifty years ago when nothin's really strange
  From a poor dirt farm to dirty streets is really not much change
  
  Ace can't read and Ace can't write and
  He sleeps on a bench at night
  A little man the world has left behind
  He ain't bitter he ain't sweet
  Makes his living on the street
  Never knowin' what he's gonna find
  
  Go back to the country no he really can't do that
  Wasted years have left him nothin' but an old straw hat
  So he puts it on his head and waves a last good-bye
  With no time left to turn around and no time to ask why
  
  Ace can't read and Ace can't write and
  He sleeps on a bench at night
  A little man the world has left behind
  He ain't bitter he ain't sweet
  Makes his living on the street
  Never knowin' what he's gonna find
  
  This old world has left poor Ace behind