ROGUE

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I watch the herd lift up its head

To scent the coming of the rain.

A thousand backs turn toward the west,

A living river down the plain.

 

All knit together, blood and bone,

The single beating heart of it.

If I could make my heart be still,

Then I would still be part of it.

 

The herd moves on to pass me by,

A rogue and outcast till I die.

 

The soothingness of symmetry,

The sameness must not be disturbed.

Commit the sin of standing out

And there’s no mercy in a herd.

 

The predators prowl roundabout

To satisfy their bloody thirst.

If you’re the one who’s standing out,

Then you’re the one they take down first.

 

I cannot fit in, though I try:

A rogue and outcast till I die.

 

Some lives are easy, some are hard.

Some days are better, some are worse.

Tonight I stand beneath the stars

And thank the heavens for my curse:

 

To meet myself in solitude,

And in the silence find my voice,

And through the trackless take my way,

And in the chaos make my choice.

 

The herd moves on to pass me by;

I stand aside and let them pass.

The only view inside a herd

Is up the other fellow’s ass.

 

Now let this be my battle cry:

A rogue and outcast till I die.