Would a Rose Smell as Sweet" - April 24 2023

 

Would a Rose Smell as Sweet?

April 24 2023

I was once told

my name means strong.

I don't know in what language

or if I might have imagined hearing this,

but have always quietly enjoyed

the implication.

Who knows

if a name foretells the future.

Or if, in a self-defeating twist

can be cruelly ironic.

Who knows

if proper nouns are meaningful,

or simply sounds

attached to us.

And who knows

what my parents were thinking

when they settled on this.

Which raises the question,

if I change my name

am I renouncing them?

The one thing

we own all our lives

is this proper noun.

It was there

when a newborn baby, wet and squalling

entered the world

with all its possibilities.

And will accompany us to the grave;

in solemn letters

inscribed in stone.

Until the monument

is eventually erased.

Because not even granite

is strong enough to withstand

the passage of time

Nothing is forever

and even memory fades.

But for now

a good name to go by.

And hard to imagine

who I’d be

by any other.