Maiden Name

She gave it away without too much thought,As her mother had given hers,Left it with her brothers who took itFor granted, as men acceptThe manly need to shave.She gave it away as though she wasGiving a few coins to a beggar -A gift rather inconsequential.

And her title new gave her, she thought,The life of a woman complete –Even in the seventies.But like a young man losing a limbIn inglorious war, as the days wore awayShe often felt a gnawing, phantom pain.