Little Tom

(album: Feelin' Better - 1977)

Little Tom, what will be your fate
Little Tom, will you be someone great
Do you know right from wrong are they teaching you at home
Or have they turn you loose to roam, Little Tom

I walked into a cafe and ordered myself something to eat
When a little boy walked in with his shoes half off his feet
He said (buy a paper Mister) I said, how do you, son
(Seven sir when my papers are sold I'll be on my way home)
What's your name (Thomas but everybody calls me Little Tom
They named me after my daddy but they say I look like my mom)
I said why it's almost midnight, son, you should be home asleep
(I know it but I wanna get me a bicycle and I gotta help mama buy something to eat
My daddy's pretty mean to us and he spends most of his money for wine
He don't hold a job like other men cause, well, he gets hired all the time)
I said, have something to eat aren't you hungry
He said (I guess a little bit
I believe I have a hamburger and a glass of milk to go with it)
I said, is that enough, he said (make it too cause I ain't eat since noon)
Where you live son (on Main Street, sir, there's six of us living in one room
There's me and my three brothers and my mommy and my dad
But someday I'm gonna buy me a big house even if I have to turn out bad)
My appetite left me as I sat there watching him
And I thought he's just one of thousands that's brought up in a home of sin
Where the parents neglect their children and forget to maker the all mankind
Then wondered why there's juvenile deliquency when their at fault most of the time
I bit my lip and fought back tears as I watched the little guy leave the cafe
And I wondered how many more children would be brought up this way

Little Tom, what will be your fate...