By: jimmy buffett   1971   Hardly seems a long time   Just a minute of the day   But 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      Chorus:   But 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 knowing what he's gonna find      Born in mississippi   Picking cotton as a child   Left soon for the city   Where he heard that life was wild   That was fifty years ago   When nothing's really strange   >from a poor dirt farm to dirty streets   Is really not much change      Chorus:   And 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 knowing what he's gonna find      Go back to the country   No he really can't do that   Wasted years have left him   Nothing but an old straw hat   So he puts it on his head   And waves a last good-bye   No time left to turn around   And no time to ask why      Chorus:   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 knowing what he's gonna find   And this old world has left poor ace behind