Please call me by my true names
Do not say that I’ll depart tomorrow -
Even today I still arrive.
Look deeply: I arrive in every second
To be a bud on a spring branch,
To be a tiny bird, with still fragile wings,
Learning to sing in my new nest,
To be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
To be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
In order to fear and hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
Of all that are alive.
I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
And I am the bird, that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.
I am the frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond,
And I am also the grass snake that silently feeds on the frog.
I am a child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
And I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.
I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
Who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.
My joy is like spring, so warm
It makes flowers bloom all over the earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
So vast it fills four oceans.
Please call me by my true names,
So I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,
So I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names,
So I can wake up,
And so the door of my heart
Can be left open,
The door of compassion.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Even today I still arrive.
Look deeply: I arrive in every second
To be a bud on a spring branch,
To be a tiny bird, with still fragile wings,
Learning to sing in my new nest,
To be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
To be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
In order to fear and hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
Of all that are alive.
I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
And I am the bird, that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.
I am the frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond,
And I am also the grass snake that silently feeds on the frog.
I am a child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
And I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.
I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
Who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.
My joy is like spring, so warm
It makes flowers bloom all over the earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
So vast it fills four oceans.
Please call me by my true names,
So I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,
So I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names,
So I can wake up,
And so the door of my heart
Can be left open,
The door of compassion.
Thich Nhat Hanh