Mama's Name

I wrote the poem below in 2002 at the age of 14. It's not a great poem, it rhymes but the meter is off quite a bit. It's just a fun story really. The funny thing to me now is that I've just recently started loving the name Eleanor and am seriously considering it as the name for my first daughter. Just now looking at it again I realized that I had chose Eleanor for the name in this poem. :)

One day a lady asked me,
"What is your mother's name?"
Of course I said, "It's mama."
My brother said the same.

"No, the name she was given at birth.
The one her parents gave her
When she first came to earth."

So then I got a thinkin'
My brow began a wrinklin'.

So what if it were true,
That my mama had another
Name I never knew?

And then I began to guess,
Could it be Grace, Ida or Jess?

Could her name be Dorothy?
Bernice, Clara or Emily?

So I went to ask mama,
Was her name Wanda, Wendy,
Sandra? It couldn't be Zee!

"Mama," I said.
"Yes." She spoke
As she made bread.

"Is your name Mary,
Beth, Ruth or Lucy?"

"No Ellie, it's not."
She said to me.
"Well is it Katie?"

"No miss Eleanor."
"Well what then?
I can't guess no more!"

"Come close, I'll whisper in your ear."
So I leaned close to hear.
She said: "It's Eleanor, my dear."

"That's my name!" I exclaimed.
See, our names were the same!

So every time I think of this,
I think how special mama was,
And I give my daughter a kiss.

For her name is Eleanor too,
And when she feels blue,
I tell her of mama's name,
And mine is the same.

Laurie B Michael 2002