Stranger

A thousand times
I've spoken your name
In color
But tonight
It feels foreign
As the name of a stranger
I say it again
Slowly
Who are you?
Owner of this name
I have known you all your life
Taken you for-granted
Just like your name
A name I speak without
Really hearing it at all
A name I use to get
Your attention when I call
A name so special
That’s why I chose it
For you
Yet somehow it has become
A sequence of syllables
Void of emotion
Or hue
Simply black and white
Like tonight…..
What is in
A name…..?
Not just any name
Your name…..
I look at you
Really look at you
Study your eyes
The contours of your face
The out-line of your form
I wonder
Who are you?
You are a part of me
And yet suddenly
I feel like I
Don’t know you at all
But I do
More than you could ever know
So I whisper your name
See it hand-written
On my brain
Slowly I say it
Again and again
And thank God for giving me
You...and your name

All Rights Reserved
Janet Martin