Twenty

Leave off fine learning!
End the nuisance of saying
'yes' to this and 'perhaps' to that,
Distinctions of how little merit!
Categorical this, categorical that,
What slightest use are they?
'If one person leads, another must follow,'
How silly and how false.

Yet conventional men lead an easy life
With all their days feast days,
A constant Spring visit to the Tall Tower,
While I am a simpleton, a do-nothing
Not yet old enough to raise a hand,
Not grown enough to smile,
A harmless, worthless waif.

Other people have a surplus of goods,
While I am left out, owning nothing.
What an idiot I must be to not know my way around
What a fool I must be!
The average person is so crisp and confident
That I ought to be miserable
Going on and on like the sea, drifting nowhere.
All of these people are making their mark upon the world,
While I, pig-headed, awkward, different from the rest,
Am only an infant still nursing at the breast.