The naming

They rested on the hard bed
on a hot Mumbai afternoon,
white curly waves brushing against dark
vibrant hair, the man in his nineties and his grandson,
watching an "Animal Planet” special.
My presence acknowledged, they
turned back their gaze, sharing a love of nature
challenges of the mind, and a compassionate spirit.

Seven years later the grandson and his wife,
chose to name their expectant son
Barjor,
Persian for "exalted,”
honoring their beloved grandfather.

The outline forms itself, six letters,
a well-balanced "B,”
then "a” the very first of alphabets
followed by a rigorous "r,”
leading to a joyous "j,”
then a worldly "o” held upright by the strength of "r.”

Barjor,
the name takes on life,
the throb of an expectant heartbeat,
a beginning to what is to be,
an identity,
a personality from the mist of dreams.
Exalted, so much to live up to.
Barjor, a Zoroastrian angel.
Will he be learned, angelic of nature,
an author, a respected administrator,
a renaissance man, this little one?

He will grow to be himself,
building blocks of wisdom,
droplets of love and compassion shading all,
learning to create his own vision.