Elucidating Questions

When they ask why I changed my name, why I didn’t change it back

When I answer it’s because my dad told me my mother named me after a guy she had a crush on and possibly slept with

True or not

The name is tainted with the memory of the telling

Will their eyes open wide?

Will they see every moment my father must have had with me from start to finish?

Will they see what kind of mother I had? What kind of father?

Will there be a look of shock, something dirty being revealed and they wish I hadn’t said it?

Or a nod of complete understanding

Of course, my father has made me privy to information I didn’t need

Many times

But I haven’t told anyone

Because at the end of the day my name means more to me

Briar Rose

Than

Ashley Rose

Every did

Ashley never rose

She only crashed and burned out

Lost in the darkness of a cold room

Begging for love in a world that never showed her

She is for before the accident

We are for after

And forever after

I do

Stuck with you

Every day

My name is yours is mine is yours

We share a name

And then it stops

The clock