The Men That Don't Fit In
BY ROBERT W. SERVICE
There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest.
If they just went straight they might go far;
They are strong and brave and true;
But they're always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: "Could I find my proper groove,
What a deep mark I would make!"
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake.
And each forgets, as he strips and runs
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,
In the glare of the truth at last.
He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
He has just done things by half.
Life's been a jolly good joke on him,
And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
He was never meant to win;
He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;
He's a man who won't fit in.
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Misfit flower is one of mine. Pic of Service from wiki commons.
Misfit flower is one of mine. Pic of Service from wiki commons.
wonderfull Poetry...!😍
Thank you!
Sadly, it's one of my favourites.
For the most of the time I don't "fit in" people, as you wrote "isn't a unique experience"...
Great poem.
A bit of a paradox eh? That you can find a place to fit, only because you don't fit anywhere else.
He was a great poet, I particularly like his " Cremation of Sam Mcgee" and the " shooting of Dan Mcgrew".
Both of those are gorgeous poems. I remember being read Sam McGee in grade school. One of those "Pass the book around dealies."
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
Such a rollercoaster that one.
One of New Zealand's country singers recorded them as a monologue on a 78 record. It was only recently that I found out who wrote them and a bit about his history.
I still think "A bunch of the boys were whooping it up" is my favourite.
No kidding? I didn't think Service ever made it that far outside Canada.
Although, our cultures are pretty intertwined. At least in BC, lol.