Sonnet for a Name Change

A name — a written, spoken face — defines
One’s life in ways unplanned. The words and thoughts,
The actions that eventually confine
Our expectations gather to us not
By will or choice, but seemingly by chance.
A set of circumstances, random whims,
A habit that became our only dance,
These few erratic notes define our hymns.
But always life, expanding, thriving, comes
To limits marked by words, and surging through
Gives birth to new-created names that from
The past are free, while still remaining true.
And so a man may look to be the same,
Yet, being free to grow, will change his name.