Just a poem

The Nickname

It's missing, the actual email.

The one before it and after, saved.

Both sent the same day.

So I do know when. But I can't look

at it and remember.

But I remember.

So clever. Memorable.

I was thrilled. Nobody

had ever given me a nickname

before. Oh, I'd been called names,

but no sobriquet, used with affection.

So, without knowing it, she named

a part of me that had long been living

in the shadows, afraid, ashamed. In that naming,

came strength, a braveness that had not known

the light of day.

Tonight, on the eve of the anniversary

of her leave-taking, I think of her. Miss her.

She knew there was only one.