I was such a stupid fish

I went and drank the pool

I always seemed to angle

To go against the rules

Never thought myself clever

Never fooled myself I was smart

Just looked in from the side lines

Turns out, that is the art.

Mingling with the passengers

That ride and crowd this train

I hang on to the footplate*

And kid myself I’m sane.

Wherever I find myself

I recoil at the normal and bland

Confronted with the certainty

I’m a stranger in a strange land.

*Safety device operated to enable a train's controls