Today’s Hobos

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

Years ago, Woody Guthrie sang the “Hobo’s Lullaby,” lamenting:

Go to sleep you weary hobo
Let the towns drift slowly by
Can’t you hear the steel rails hummin’
That’s the hobo’s lullaby

I know your clothes are torn and ragged
And your hair is turning gray
Lift your head and smile at trouble
You’ll find peace and rest someday

I live in New York and the other day, riding home on the subway, I sat across from someone who might have been a post-modern hobo.