The Name Given
When you hear your son’s name shouted,
Loose in the wild, by other boys on the pitch
Something elemental shifts
Up till then it was something gifted
A word you instructed others to call him
From the day he was born
When you narrowed his range
Of nameless possibility
To a single monosyllabic stab in the dark
As if a particular sound, spoken aloud
Contained its own protective glossary
But now it’s his and you can’t take it back
You gave the word, he finds the meaning
This is the essence of the giving.
5/11/24
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