Songtext How do i work Dar Williams

How do i work

I chopped off that braid of hair
My neighbor hooted and people stared
So I tried to look haughty, more occupied
I lost the weight, I go for walks
Sometimes I'm out a hundred blocks
And my clothes are like caverns in which I hide
When I return the doorman's there
Oh, if only he knew
The service
Not of his open door
But of his open smile to me

CHORUS:
How do I work?
How am I put together?
I still do not know
Though it's late in the hour
Oh I have some ways to go
How can I grow without just growing old?

I remember me as a child
I often shrugged and seldom smiled
In the mirror I asked, "Is this all I am?"
In class the teacher dressed in tweed
Said to fly around the room like milkweed
And she told me I twirled like Martha Graham
At the time I just turned away
But if only she knew
How I danced in my room that night
When everyone had gone to sleep

CHORUS

So now into my life of computer mail
And a single mark hanging on its nail
Someone entered where no one has even tried
Oh, there has been so much for me
Out of all the greatness in this small city
I believe I have beauty coiled up inside
Sometimes I think that I can be tapped
Just like a barrel
Oh, I'm crazy, yeah
I laugh at myself
Another lonely kid grown up

How can it work?
How can we live together?
I still do not know
Though it's late in the hour
Oh I have some ways to go
Help me grow
I'm just growing old