A tenement, a dirty street 
Walked and worn by shoeless feet 
Inside it's long and so complete 
Watched by a shivering sun 

Old eyes in a small child's face 
Watching as the shadows race 
Through walls and cracks and leave no trace 
And daylight's brightness shuns 

The days of pearly spencer 

The race is almost run 

Nose pressed hard on frosted glass 
Gazing as the swollen mass 
On concrete fields where grows no grass 
Stumbles blindly on 

Iron trees smother the air 
But withering they stand and stare 
Through eyes that neither know nor care 
Where the grass is gone 

The days of pearly spencer 

The race is almost run 

Pearly where's your milk white skin 
What's that stubble on your chin 
It's buried in the rot gut gin 
You played and lost not won 

You played a house that can't be beat 
Now look your head's bowed in defeat 
You walked too far along the street 
Where only rats can run 

The days of pearly spencer 

The race is almost run 

The race is almost run