Please Call Me by My True Names – A Beautiful Poem by Thich Nhat Hanh with Big Relevance for the Current State of the World

Today I would like to share one of my favourite poems by Thich Nhat Hanh. The world is in desperate need for dialogue and, most importantly, compassion. There are far too many wars being faught, both with weapons and words. This will not stop until we start listening to those we perceive as opponents. Peace has to start right here, right now, today, in our daily life. We won’t be able to achieve peace between countries if we’re not willing to start with ourselves. How can two countries come to a peace agreement if  even two neighbours refuse to talk to each other over a small disagreement? We as individuals might not have the power to achieve immediate World Peace. But we can be the neighbour who starts the conversation. We can be the one who makes an effort to understand the pain and confusion of a fellow human being. It might seem like an insignificant step – but it’s one step at a crucial time in the right direction. What this world needs right now is not more weapons. What it needs is an army of compassion warriors. Let us be soldiers of peace and let us start today.

Please Call Me by My True Names – Thich Nhat Hanh

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 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 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 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.

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 slowly 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 my 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.