I have long loved this poem by Thich Nhat Hanh. It especially resonates with me in the days as spring approaches, as the weather changes and becomes unpredictable, as I look around at the rebirthing, blossoming of trees and flowers and shrubs. Somehow all of that gets me thinking about the feminist edict, that naming is powerful, that speaking the truth matters.

So, in the spirit of springtime and the power of naming, I share this poem with you.

Please Call Me by My True Names – Thich Nhat Hanh

Plum Village Archives (https://plumvillage.org/articles/please-call-me-by-my-true-names-song-poem)

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.

. . .

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.