 |
The silence in the bedchamber was deafening, the only sounds the baby’s uneven breathing and sniffling mother. Maria kissed the infant’s forehead, tears streaming from her eyes, a hopeless look upon her face. Slowly, she spoke. “Remember the story of Naomi from the Book of Ruth?”
We nodded.
Maria continued. “Naomi’s name meant sweetness, and indeed it did seem a sweet life when Naomi left for Moab with her husband and sons. But by the time Naomi returned, she had lost everything.”
We sat in silence, no one knowing what to say.
Her eyes never leaving the infant, Maria began quoting a passage from Ruth.
|
|
“And they said, Is not this Naomi? And she answered them, Call me not Naomi, but call me Mara: for the Almighty hath given me much bitterness. I went out full, and the Lord hath caused me to return empty.”
Maria’s voice broke, but she went on. “Why call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath humbled me, and the Almighty hath brought me unto adversity? You, child, are Mara, for you are born into a bitter world. May it not always be so.”
Maria then gazed around at us, gathered so helplessly ’round her bed. “Call her Mara,” she said simply. 
From When the Moon Has No More Silver
by Connie Lapallo © 2011
After Mara, the Buckes had a son they named Gershom, “for I am a stranger in a strange land.” Then there was Benomi, believed to have Down’s syndrome. Benomi means “son of my sadness.” And at last Maria delivered Peleg, the same year the settlers at last received land. Peleg, “for in his days was the earth divided.”
|
|
