Names are symbols
Even when they are unceremoniously chosen,
But their meaning is rarely a given.

I was lucky to share my middle name
With two great men in particular,
My grandfather and Hemingway,
Both men of great strength,
Courage
And character.

Sometimes names were a life sentence,
A bar whose expectations one could never
Live up to,
But I took strength in mine.

If I am half the man they were,
When all is said and done,
I will have lived well
And somewhere between
Hearst and
Paris.