Harry Chapin - The Shortest Story lyrics

I am born today
The sun burns a promise in my eyes
Mama strikes me and I draw a breath and cry
Above me a cloud softly
Tumbles through the sky
I am glad to be alive

It is my seventh day
I taste the hunger and I cry
My brother and sister cling to Mama's side
She squeezes her breast
But it has nothing to provide
Someone weeps, I fall asleep

It is twenty days today
Mama does not hold me any more
I open my mouth but I am too weak to cry
Above me a bird slowly crawls across the sky
Why is there nothing now to do but die?