I worshipped dead men for their strength, forgetting I was strong.

The speaker confesses to a kind of self-erasure: revering “dead men” (canonical predecessors, patriarchal authorities, or heroic figures) for qualities she already possesses. The line critiques inherited hierarchies of admiration—especially the tendency to treat male strength as exceptional and authoritative—while exposing how such veneration can blind a person to their own capacities. Its emotional pivot (“forgetting”) turns the sentence into a compact narrative of awakening: strength is not bestowed by lineage or sanctioned by tradition; it can be self-recognized and self-claimed. The phrasing also suggests a broader modernist skepticism toward monuments and reputations, urging a shift from borrowed models to lived, present agency.