Names

She was Eliza for a few weeks

When she was a baby -

Eliza Lily. Soon it changed to Lil.

Later she was Miss Steward in the baker's shop

And then 'my love', 'my darling', Mother.

Widowed at thirty, she went back to work

As Mrs Hand. Her daughter grew up,

Married and gave birth.

Now she was Nanna. 'Everybody

Calls me Nanna,' she would say to visitors.

And so they did - friends, tradesmen, the doctor.

In the geriatric ward

They used the patients' Christian names

'Lil,' we said, 'or Nanna,'

But it wasn't in her file

And for those last bewildered weeks

She was Eliza once again.