## Metadata - Author: [[The Poetry Foundation]] - Full Title:: The Men That Don't Fit In - Category:: #🗞️Articles - URL:: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58012/the-men-that-dont-fit-in - Read date:: [[2026-08-01]] ## Highlights > 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. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kyy1zsqqpsz5wt80cfx2wxmb))