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[ema]

i saw a hippie girl on the 8th avenue
she barely looked at me for a second or two
& i suddenly realized i no longer look like a hippie
she had a long thin dress & rainbow clothes
not long ago i wore one of those
but nowadays i guess i don't dress very much like anything
i had a great pair of bellbottoms, i had two
my friend borrowed one & the other i outgrew
& now to the eye i'm turning into a non descript guy
i still travel light & my hair's still long
i still hate deodorant & i still sing songs
but i've come to notice that lately
i haven't been dressing as colorfully & psychedelic
cuz i wore my tie dyes until they rotted to shreds
& i can no longer follow the grateful dead
& it's gotten to the point where
i no longer even identify with most phish fans anymore
& someday soon i'll probably cut my hair
& a week after that i know i won't even care
is that what it comes to all along
everything tht you feel will someday feel wrong
i was talking to my friend erick to see what he thunk
& he said "jeff it's weird but i no longer look like a punk"
i guess we don't need our clothes for an identity crutch
& we looked at each other & we didn't look like much
& we looked at the world like a movie theater
at all the hippies & punks & the skinheads & the skaters
& someday or other, sooner or later
they may come to the realization that what's important is
whether you can carry a human conversation
& it's not what you wear on the outside
it's how you think & feel on the inside