NaPoWriMo day 14 ~

Today’s prompt reached someplace very old in me, a fascination with names that I’ve had since I can remember. Here’s the prompt: “write a poem that delves into the meaning of your first or last name.” I chose my last, which I share with my beloved, and my two sons and two grandsons.

And here’s the poem it triggered:

a love song for goldensleeves ~

how you were always goldensleeved 

no need for the royal blood your mother

claimed    or the open purse you gave

so freely.   generosity to anyone without

more your heritage than kingliness.

how I trusted this in you, recognised 

your golden nature at first glance.

you so clearly transparent     no hint

of artifice or mockery, only the warm

sheen of truth, its soft lustre gleaming.

so that when we joined fortunes 

I wanted only to be one with that warmth

shine as you do    still    in all you undertake

all you give, from the softly golden sleeves

of your understanding.   all you offer up ~