Names

Names…

Fettering labels assigned to us upon creation. 

Defining and confining us to characteristic groups of people. 

Like a stamp on a letter bound for a fixed destination, our names scream out our origins no matter how far we run. 

Names…

Comfortable and warm to many,

A curse upon a hapless few. 

Their meanings lord over us with an almost invisible tension, stretching their roots deep into the core of our beings.

Names…

A great many have I been called and a great many more do I hope to be.

Showoff, Useless, Destructive, Weak.

Names aimed like weapons at my throat, claiming my life one too many times. 

But alas, I breathe.

Resuscitated by the very power of names.

One calls me Loved.

Another calls me her Dragon.

One says I am a Battle axe that cuts down my enemies.

One calls me a force to be reckoned with.

The other calls me a Lion's Cub.

Resilience, Strength, Friend, Brother, Father, Son.

Names that held my weakened heart and squeezed for dear life.

Thus, I Live…

Reviews

[Davidgeo]

I refer to my cat as a doctor.

There is a racoon that frequents my backyard I refer to as Sir Willups Brightslymore.

He's very well fed.

I like your poetry. If you were a racoon in my backyard, I wouldn't just feed you... I would also name you.