Whence cometh my mediocrity? Shameful is my life. In verse I so long To pen my thoughts On love, nature, On life’s fragility. Yet from my heart and mind Exudeth naught. Voiceless, museless Dare I deem myself a poet? If I am not to write Then wherefore do I exist? Just as the captain without bark Is but a soul bedeviled and lost, So too is the author without voice Ne’er to be an author at all. Though, oft I wonder Perhaps, senescent are my woes, And there is many a song Have I yet to compose. Only in due course This will I e’er know. O till that time is upon me Ne’er will I cease to ponder Whence cometh my mediocrity? Only in due course This will I e’er know.