Predestination

There once was a man who said "Damn!
It is borne in upon me I am
An engine that moves
In predestinate grooves;
I'm not even a bus, I'm a tram."
—Maurice E. Hare (1886-1967)

There is a somewhat better variation of the above, also attributed to Maurice E. Hare, and given the date 1905:

There was a young man who said "Damn!
I perceive with regret that I am
But a creature that moves
In predestinate grooves
I'm not even a bus, I'm a tram."

And someone wrote a nice reply:

"Young man you should stay your complaint,
For the grooves that you call a constraint
Are there to contrive
That you learn to survive
Trams arrive, buses may or they mayn't."
—Unknown

(Thanks to Dr. Karl Wuensch for bringing the second version of the Hare limerick to my attention, and also the response limerick.)