The Men That Don't Fit In

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.

by Robert W. Service

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Başkalarına benzemeyen bir adam boyu vardır,
Bir boy ki yerinde duramaz;
Eşe dosta kendini özletir,
Dünyayı isteğince gezinir.
Düzleri aşar, selleri yarar,
Dağların sırtlarına çıkar;
Onlarınki göçebe kanının laneti,
Dinlenmesini bilmezler.

Düz gitseler belki uzağa varacaklar;
Güçlü ve cesur ve dürüsttürler;
Fakat hep bilinen şeylerden sıkılır
Ve hep yabancıyı ve yeniyi isterler.
Derler ki: "Bir kendi yolumu bulsam,
Ne biçim bir iz bırakırdım!"
Deşinir ve değişir, her yeni hamleleri
Yeni bir hatadan ibarettir.

Ve herbiri unutur, soyunup koşmaya başladığında
Gözalıcı ve nefes kesen bir tempoda,
Tutarlı, sessiz, adımlayanlardır
Yaşamboyu süren yarışı kazananlar.
Ve herbiri unutur gençliğinin elden kaçtığını,
Unutur verimli çağının geçtiğini,
Ta ki bir gün, ölmüş bir ümitle,
Gerçeğin ışığında dinelene kadar. 

(Türkçe çevirisi Erden Eruç'tan. Devamı Erden Avustralya'ya ulaşınca...)