A Mediocre Man

By Robert W Service

I'm just a mediocre man

    Of no high-brow pretence;

A comfortable life I plan

    With care and commonsense.

I do the things most people do,

    I echo what they say;

And through my morning paper view

    The problems of the day.

No doubt you think I'm colourless,

    Profoundly commonplace;

And yet I fancy, more or less,

    I represent the race.

My name may stand for everyone,

    At least for nine in ten,

For all in all the world is run

    By mediocre men.

Of course you'll maybe not agree

    That you are average,

And unlike ordinary me

    You strut your little stage,

Well, you may even own a Bank,

    And mighty mergers plan,

But Brother, doff your tile and thank

    The Mediocre Man.