Before you were born 
I knew you were someone special 
and needed a unique name; 
there are too many girls called 
Jennifer-Jane-and-Jessica. 

After a long search 
—not easy in the days before Google—
I found your name in a library book. 
Though we didn’t know the sex 
of our unborn child 
we didn’t choose a boy’s name 
because once we saw 
—Mahalia—
and learned that it means “tenderness” 
in Hebrew, 
we knew you were our Mahalia. 

And like Oprah, Cher, and Madonna 
you have always been known 
by your first name. 

Roseanne Freed

was born in South Africa and now lives in Los Angeles. She loves hiking and shares her fascination for the natural world by leading school children on hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains. Her poetry has been published in Blue Heron Review, Contrary Magazine, MacQueen’s Quinterly, ONE ART, Verse-Virtual, and Writing in a Woman’s Voice.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ The tree which moves some to tears of joy, is in the eyes of others only a green thing by Roseanne Freed in Issue 14 of MacQ (August 2022).