Our poet this week is Mary Schroth.   She sent us her bio statement: “Mary Schroth is a 19-year old college sophomore at Worcester State University. She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English due to her love of the written word. She is passionate about literature, writing, and humanitarian efforts such as women’s rights, hunger awareness, and the LGBTQ community. Her poetic style is generally lyrical in nature, and she prefers to write about abstract concepts that have a visceral, introspective origin. Schroth is fascinated by the concept of human emotions and relations, which is a common theme that she likes to explore in her poetry.”

Mary Schroth.

Writing What’s Been Written

I fear that all I feel

is unoriginal.

I wonder if there could possibly be

something left unsaid by

creation’s vast history

of clever minds

and strikingly eloquent souls.

I’m unsure that I know

anything at all about living.

But look at me, still breathing,

still alive.

I know not why I am here,

and a faithful intuition does not

ease the pain of wondering.

But though I may often seem inferior,

and despite my probable unworthiness,

I am royalty.

A queen, lavished within

her own kingdom of self.

I have not lived these other lives—

and therefore I belong to no one,

seek to impress not a soul but my own.

Never will I deny

that it has all been done before,

but I rest easily.

My life is a virgin, naive to the cosmos.

I am meaningless, but I mean everything.

I live within relativity,

safe in my palace with a rooftop of stars.

— Mary Schroth

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To have your work considered for the Lyrical send it to:
Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143. dougholder@post.harvard.edu