It is fair to wonder what your name
was all about—
before it was attached to you.
The crisp sounds that round together in a
full-breath definition of head-to-soul-to-foot.
Surely, the world could not have been so rich before.
Say your name again and again and again
and with each refrain, remember who you are:
The mad morning hair and queer-as-you-breathe
sun-starter who rolls with little logic from the shower
to a dreamer-doctor-writer-lawyer-teacher-self.
A dawn of aspiration and a mother-father, too,
perhaps. A twinkle that inspires when you are
unaware, and friendly face that counts the happy
paces of so many years with friends of every bond.
An iconoclastic icon, no equal in the name.
Now turn your thoughts around as you paddle
through your days. For as star-lit as you are—
—principal among the constellations—
every soul you see today
is just as brilliant in their name.
Nov 24, 2017
Nov 24, 2017 at 6:21 PM UTC
It is fair to wonder what your name
was all about—
before it was attached to you.
The crisp sounds that round together in a
full-breath definition of head-to-soul-to-foot.
Surely, the world could not have been so rich before.
Say your name again and again and again
and with each refrain, remember who you are:
The mad morning hair and queer-as-you-breathe
sun-starter who rolls with little logic from the shower
to a dreamer-doctor-writer-lawyer-teacher-self.
A dawn of aspiration and a mother-father, too,
perhaps. A twinkle that inspires when you are
unaware, and friendly face that counts the happy
paces of so many years with friends of every bond.
An iconoclastic icon, no equal in the name.
Now turn your thoughts around as you paddle
through your days. For as star-lit as you are—
—principal among the constellations—
every soul you see today
is just as brilliant in their name.
Request permission to use this poem