"Aliya" (poem)

Written for Poetic Bloomings "memoir project."

"ALIYA"

She could not say my nickname – “Sasha,”

Could not master the shushing sound

Lots of toddlers have trouble with.

She was always different though,

Always doing things her own special way

She invented a new nickname – 

“Aliya” she called her aunt – me.

(It really is a nickname for “Alexandra,”

But she could not know that.)

So, for a few precious years “Aliya” I was,

Until she became all grown up – five years old – 

It has been “Sasha” ever since.

She is a beautiful young woman now.

Was she ever a toddler? Hard to imagine,

But to this day I treasure her childhood drawings:

A portrait of someone with curly hair,

A caption – carefully scribbled letters:

“ALIYA.” 

Live for the Love of it,

The Happy Amateur

© Alexandra Palmer

 http://poeticbloomings.com/2012/08/26/a-k-a-prompt-70/