What you hold back from the minute, the minute will lack,
If you don't claim it from the hour, then the hour takes it back,
All our wants will pass quickly, what remains is our need,
And mama don't make no medicine that'll cure that disease.
Nothing is certain here in this world,
You drop all your treasures just like slippery pearls,
Oh, it's hard to find a handle on the things that you see,
'Cause they slide right through your fingers just like slippery pearls.
What you don't lock up inside your heart the world will consume,
Might slip right down the throat of greed, or through the floorboards in your room,
There's two thieves named pain and pleasure; neither one is true,
You ransom your flesh to save your bones, then they come and take those too.
Nothing is certain here in this world,
You drop all your treasures just like slippery pearls,
Oh, it's hard to find a handle on the things that you see,
'Cause they slide right through your fingers just like slippery pearls.
They don't make a map, no, to guide you through the badlands of the soul,
You could lose yourself to blind conceit or to the hunger for control,
Try to guard it all from the elements, and still gonna fall apart,
'Cause the world outside don't pose no threat like the darkness in our hearts.
Nothing is certain here in this world,
You drop all your treasures just like slippery pearls,
Oh, it's hard to find a handle on the things that you see,
'Cause they slide right through your fingers just like slippery pearls.
