Sunday, January 8, 2012

The Naming

                       Brenda Bryant

SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY

THE NAMING

Like your name or like it not
This is where you probably got
The name that you're forever stuck with,
Have really good or rotten luck with.
It will haunt you all your days
In so many different ways.
Was it your Mama's invention?
Does it still cause you great tension?
Is it spelt a bit contrary,
Like  M.A.I.R.Y for MARY?
Are you ashamed of what you weigh
And yet your name says you are 'Fay'?
Does an ancestor, long gone,
Mean that you're called Algernon?
Did your Dad say 'It's a boy!
Let us call him Fauntleroy!'
Names are things with which we're teased.
Few of us are really pleased
With the name that was donated.
If only parents could have waited!
If only Baby, just pre-font,
Could shout 
'This is the name I want!'
*
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THE ROAD AHEAD

Take a look at a baby's feet,
Fit both inside your hand,
And consider all the miles they'll walk
Across the unknown land.
Imagine step and step and step
Each following the other,
On and on and on and on
As they walk away from Mother.
Those feet will walk on sand-hills,
They'll walk on rocky shores,
On slippery slopes and pavements
And on polished ballroom floors.
Those feet will walk untrammeled
Through the gentle summer grass;
And in heavy boots, maybe, they'll march
As folk see the soldiers pass.
Such fragile things to carry us
On a journey of such length!
Feet! Just bones and skin,
But what enormous strength!
The baby's feet I speak of
May walk till ninety-three!
Then their owners are allowed to say
'My feet are killing me!'
*

4 comments:

robin. said...

aww...what a cute post. nothing cuter than baby feet!!!

Gemma Wiseman said...

Delightful font lit so strongly with light and backed by deep shadows! The naming poem captures so many agonies a name may cause! And the baby's feet poem is a delightful reflection on just how cuteness has many challenges ahead!

Welcome to Shadow Shot Sunday 2!

Magical Mystical Teacher said...

Methinks people who are saddled with unwanted (and just plain odd) names should chuck them and name themselves!

A SHADOW THE SIZE OF THE SUN

If I had a shadow the size of the sun,
I’m not sure how fast I’d be able to run,
Or if I could flee from its ravenous jaws,
While keeping away from its razor-sharp claws!


© 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher


Shadows here and there

LV said...

Loved you post. I especially liked the little hands and feet.