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 somethin' 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 somethin' 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 livin' 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