All you great men of power, you who boast of your feats
Politicians and entrepreneurs
Can you safeguard your breath in the night while you sleep?
Keep your heart beating steady and sure?
As you lie in your bed, does the thought haunt your head
That you're really rather small?
If there's one thing I know in this life
We are beggars all
All you champions of science and rulers of men
Can you summon the sun from its sleep?
Does the earth seek your counsel on how fast to spin?
Can you shut up the gates of the deep?
Don't you know that all things hang, as if by a string
O'er the darkness, poised to fall?
If there's one thing I know in this life
We are beggars all
All you big shots that swagger and stride with conceit
Did you devise how your frame would be formed?
If you'd be raised in a palace or live out in the streets?
Did you choose the place or the hour you'd be born?
Tell me what can you claim?
Not a thing, not your name
Tell me if you can recall
Just one thing not a gift in this life
Can you hear what's been said?
Can you see now that everything's grace after all?
If there's one thing I know in this life
We are beggars all
