Missus Robert Smith is that no longer,
Divorce came through this morning via mail,
She held the declaration, shaky fingers,
First smiled, but then her eyes began to well.
Friends and family, neighbor’s kids and colleagues,
Many people know her by that name,
Missus Robert Smith she is no longer,
Oddly, she feels naked by that change.
No one called her Jenny for some ages,
The missus was her name for quite some time,
Twenty-seven years they have been married,
Now a piece of paper says it’s done.
Jenny, she says softly, in a whisper,
Name she used to love to be called by,
Cradled it in memory, like a secret,
Now she claims it back into her life.
Jenny Ogden, Jenny, hi miss Ogden,
Sounds familiar, yet it feels so strange,
Change takes time, that she knows for certain,
She lets the paper slowly from her hands.