A rose by my name

Photo: Starting school at age five.

A ROSE BY MY NAME

My name means rose,

a flower of succulent

beauty, nestled above

sharp thorns, ready to

protect and preserve.

 

Roslyn, as the Brahmins

say, the Almighty has

permanent abode, in

the heart of the silver

Rose, and it connects

 

to the Solar Wheel of

the Horizon, and holds

as Virgin Sophia and

the Rose of Sharon, to

ancient realms and as

 

a sign, of heavenly grace,

a name my mother saw

on a signpost near home,

as Rosslyn Place, and

deemed it right for her

 

first daughter, removing

one 's' to lessen confusion

given the surname was

Ross, although, even then

she had gifted her child

 

a name to confuse others,

when it was shortened,

as names always are in

Australia, to a repetition

of sound and syllable,

 

as if, somehow the name

might be forgotten, or

for the sake of soul-work

needed to be repeated, and

consistently affirmed. 

Ros means dew, and hill;

that place where the white

horse roams, and Urus, the

bull, carries the Christ child,

as Horus of the Horizon.

Behind it stands Hilda,

the goddess as guardian,

and warrior; she who is

known as battle woman,

saint and protector - a

 

name gifted from both

grandmothers, although

one long dead, before the

birth, and the other, just

a few years later when

 

barely known, but still

recognised. A name to

be hated as a child and

honoured and appreciated

as an adult when the true

 

meaning had been found,

and that sense gained of

maternal guardians always

on watch, to collect the

petals as they slowly fell,

 

and to nourish each new

breath of bud and life,

blooming as Ross, that

headland of Soul, blood-

red promontory of being,

 

drawn from the Gaelic,

through Russian and

Greek, and known by the

Norse as Hrossay, horse

island, and also to others

as the rough, scaly matter

on the surface of the bark

of trees: all gifts woven

as spells in the life of a

newly born girl-child.

NB: Written for a prompt asking about our names.