Nicknames for Aislinn

She was born a bald little lassie
long and thin, truly, ever so pretty
6lbs-8oz if memory serves me well
she was slender and strong as gazelle.
She’d the yellow ochre of barley jaundice.
She lay on my lap; her eyes opened wondrous…
She’d match for grace all the tiny wild cowslips
I'd laugh! “I'd nicknamed her chips”
Because of her yellowing, jaundice—after
finally she came home with her mother
I changed that name to “clothes peg”
As seemed right… even if a little bowleg,
She’d lie in the little red washing-basket.
Just as if it was her Moses basket
Clothes peg stuck; it was only proper!
As we hung her out to quietly jabber…

poem by Mark Heathcote
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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