We are the great disguisers, just like crows
Which stand out starkly on the glistening snows
That lie across the Howe or near Tentsmuir,
Turning the wet of winter into something pure
That stays a day or two, then melts away,
Less and less frosted beauty every day:
And so we wear our dazzling suits, beach wear,
Put fruit-like hats on, bleach or dye our hair,
Cavort on the poolside, lounge about hotels
In morning- or in penguin-suits. For spells
I used to wear an old long dark-brown coat
Bought at a sale in Nijmegen; I thought
That I looked cool behind those wide lapels,
Styled in the Seventies. But that look repels
No longer, so I hear, for fashion's wheel
Spun round in surprise and put the seal
On Seventies chic - it's more or less eternal.
You can wear what you want now - the infernal
Consideration of what's in or out
Consigned to dustbins which we all put out
On pavement edges before seven-thirty -
God help us if we put out all the dirty
Coalbags and plastic sacks that don't fit in
To the new 40 litre wheelie-bin.
To summarize: clothes are our persona
Even if you bathe on Rügen 'oben ohne'
So that fat business men with great big tums
Can ogle your pudenda, breasts and bums -
That's saying something about them and you,
Sending out a message that's completely true
About your likes and dislikes, how you think you should
Comport yourself in public. Is it any good
Expecting you to alter what you feel inside
So that you can't express it, but would rather hide
Beneath a bathing-costume, stroll along the shore
So that all the men who look at you will wish for more?
Often you see people going along the street
In little groups of two or three, their clothing neat
And wearing little badges fastened to lapels
Or clipped to outside pockets - All this tells
You without introduction that these guys form part
Of some meeting or some conference about the heart
Or are big-time anthropologists from Mexico
Studying the way we let our eyebrows grow.
Uniform of a sort affects us all
Whether we're dark or fair, obese or tall
Like animals and other members of all species
We need to spot each other as variety increases
So that we don't wander into other groups
And blunder into blitzkrieg using combat troops.
Clothes help us to distinguish one another
And taste in clothes can be so weird - oh brother!
Men in skirts may indicate sexual bipolarity -
All part of the scene of human circularity.
