Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SUPERFLUOUS MAN by JOHN GODFREY SAXE

First Line: I LONG HAVE BEEN PUZZLED TO GUESS
Last Line: THAT I'M A SUPERFLUOUS MAN!
"It is ascertained by inspection of the registers of many countries, that the
uniform proportion of male to female births is as 21 to 20: accordingly,
in respect to marriage, every 21st man is naturally superfluous."
-- TREATISE ON POPULATION.

I LONG have been puzzled to guess,
And so I have frequently said,
What the reason could really be
That I never have happened to wed;
But now it is perfectly clear,
I am under a natural ban;
The girls are already assigned, --
And I'm a superfluous man!

Those clever statistical chaps
Declare the numerical run
Of women and men in the world,
Is Twenty to Twenty-and-one;
And hence in the pairing, you see,
Since wooing and wedding began,
For every connubial score,
They've got a superfluous man!

By twenties and twenties they go,
And giddily rush to their fate,
For none of the number, of course,
Can fail of a conjugal mate;
But while they are yielding in scores
To Nature's inflexible plan,
There's never a woman for me, --
For I'm a superfluous man!

It is n't that I am a churl,
To solitude over-inclined;
It is n't that I am at fault
In morals, or manners, or mind;
Then what is the reason, you ask,
I'm still with the bachelor-clan?
I merely was numbered amiss, --
And I'm a superfluous man!

It is n't that I am in want
Of personal beauty or grace,
For many a man with a wife
Is uglier far in the face;
Indeed, among elegant men
I fancy myself in the van;
But what is the value of that,
When I'm a superfluous man?

Although I am fond of the girls,
For aught I could ever discern
The tender emotion I feel
Is one that they never return;
'T is idle to quarrel with fate,
For, struggle as hard as I can,
They're mated already, you know, --
And I'm a superfluous man!

No wonder I grumble at times,
With women so pretty and plenty,
To know that I never was born
To figure as one of the Twenty;
But yet, when the average lot
With critical vision I scan,
I think it may be for the best
That I'm a superfluous man!



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