Call Me By My True Names

For well over 30 years, Thich Nhat Hanh has been my teacher, friend, and inspiration. His life is Peace. His words change you. They changed me. When you can truly 'eat' this poem, the third dimension becomes your refuge. For those unfamiliar with his work, I offer his poem. I worked with this daily for over 20 years, for me, this work embodies the mystery of our dimension.

PLEASE CALL ME BY MY TRUE NAMES

Don't say that I will depart tomorrow -
even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving
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,
to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am a mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that sweeps down to swallow the mayfly.

I am a frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the 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 thows 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.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his "debt of blood" to my people
dying slowing in a forced-labor camp.

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 the 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 to door of my heart
could be left open,
the door of compassion.

Thi writes: "This poem was written in 1978, during the time of the helping the boat people. It was first read in a retreat in Kosmos Center in Amsterdam, Holland, organized by Niko Tideman. Daniel Berrigan was there."