In the world's mighty gallery of pictures Hang the scenes that are painted from life There's pictures of love and of pa**ion And there's pictures of peace and of strife There hang pictures of youth and of beauty Of old age and a blushing young bride They all hang on the wall but the saddest of all Are the pictures from life's other side Just a picture from life's other side Someone has fell by the way A life has gone out with the tide That might have been happy some day There's a poor old mother at home She's watching and waiting alone Just longing to hear from a loved one so dear Just a picture from life's other side The first scene is that of a gambler
Who had lost all his money at play And he draws his dead mother's ring from his finger That she wore long ago on her wedding day It's his last earthly treasure but he stakes it Then he bows his head that his shame he might hide But when they lifted his head they found he was dead That's just a picture from life's other side Now the last scene is that by the river Of a heartbroken mother and babe As the harbor lights shine and they shiver On an outcast whom no one will save And yet she was once a true woman She was somebody's darling and pride God help her she leaps for there's no one to weep It's just a picture from life's other side