The kids I cared for in the ER came with a variety of names. Granted, a lot of them were white bread like Emma and Lucas but any number of them were not.
A few names have stayed with me mostly for their quirkiness: La - sha (La dash sha) and SSSST (Forest). But I remember one patient because of a name that described her circumstances precisely.
A Trick of the Gods
Before me in the ER
lies a twelve-year-old girl,
bearing a name known
to the ancients.
Having slid into this world
too soon, she exists
with the mind of an infant,
a body limp and tube-fed,
a scar-crossed chest.
But her mahogany eyes follow
my stethoscope, sparkle
at the sound of soft voices.
Pandora,
did your mother name you
with irony or unwittingly?
Marilyn Aschoff Mellor
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