Part 1: The Girl Who Forgot Her Name

There once was a girl who forgot her name. 

Alone in her room, she tried to recall 

That word that would bring her home. 

Who are we with no name? No identity; 

Without something to be called? 

A place of belonging; solid ground. 

How we talk to ourselves in the quiet moments.  

Our connection to others;  

That thing we grow into. 

Alone in the room, the girl stopped 

Trying to remember her name. 

She sought a new something to call herself; 

Tried different words to fit. 

Some names made her laugh, 

Others made her cry. 

She asked others to give her a name, 

She asked them just to try. 

They called her names that hurt her, 

And ones she didn’t understand. 

They called her names that didn’t fit, 

Like someone else’s cloths. 

She knew she didn’t know her name, 

But it wasn’t one of those. 

 

She asked about the names of others, 

Hoping she might find, 

Something to crawl into, 

To change her state of mind. 

But that creates a problem,  

Because when we look to others, you see; 

What may work fine for you, 

Might not work well for me. 

And so she wandered, 

Nameless and aimless, 

To a shore of deep, dark water. 

To the edge of the void, she creeped;  

Looking to the water like a mirror 

That might give her a name. 

She put her toes right to the edge 

And found an unseen drop. 

She fell into the deep, deep dark, 

And couldn’t seem to stop.  

 

She came out on the other side, 

Shaking and still alone. 

But there she found the others 

Who had made the dark their home. 

They carried names she could not speak, 

Without trembling from fear. 

Fear that these names would stick, 

That they would call her friend. 

She looked around 

And was startled to behold, 

That these were names she gave herself, 

The stories that she told. 

Worthless, helpless, useless, powerless. 

Unlovable, unkind, unfeeling. 

Disgusting, discarded. 

Neglected, rejected. 

Forgotten. 

The names, the people she could see,  

Screamed to the deep, dark void, 

“You know you’re just like me!”. 

The nameless girl fell to her knees 

On the cold and lonely shore. 

And for the first time in her life, 

Dared to think “no more”. 

She looked up at the sky, in awe  

Of things that sparkled there. 

A beauty in the deep, dark void, 

Like glitter in the air. 

From that broken place, 

The girl now knew, 

The only way she’d find 

A name that she knew would fit, 

Was to leave all these behind. 

And so, the girl rose from the sand, 

Dropped the names there on the ground. 

Maybe out there in the glitter, 

A better name could be found.