Pila/Pilar in the Spanish Dictionary

I named my Spanish student Pilar,
Older people are eager.
When our bodies dry,
no longer absorb easily,
our brains sometimes become thirsty.
She needed to know what her name meant.
I told her of the pilar in Spain
where the Virgin appeared in 34 A.D.
In Zargagoza the altar boy, in his undulations
of white, swept child after child
away from camera-banded parents.
Each child was frozen, lips touching
the marble pillar in a kiss as fervent
and feverish as spring. Heavy incense
stamped my brain as I watched devotion
swirl in, swirl out like seawater,
leave eddies. "prop"   "mainstay"
the pages say, but above it is pila,
the rudiment, the forefather word.
"heap"   "pile" Rubble, I think.
I name myself one, will smooth,
rub away at the memories,
polish and hope one tends
towards the other and that
etymology is worthy its name.

--Carol Hamilton