Please Call Me By My True Names is a poem written by Thich Nhat Hanh back in the 1970s.
He wrote it in response to hearing the news about a young refugee girl from Vietnam throwing herself into the sea and drowning after being raped by Thai sea pirates. After meditating all day on his anger in response to hearing this news and questioning what he could do if he was there, this poem was composed.
The audio is from 2009 when he recited this poem at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco during an evening of poetry recital and song.
I uploaded the video to my YT account to be able to add additional subtitles in different languages.
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 swoops 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 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 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 the door of my heart
could be left open,
the door of compassion.
The Song
The pratictioners in the Plum Village tradition of engaged Buddhisme have made a beautiful song from key lines of the poem. Please enjoy the music and sing along, if you like!
Lyrics of the song:
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 hear that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names
So that I can wake up,
And the door of my heart can be left open.
(Instrumental interlude, then repeating the words and music)
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 hear that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names
So that I can wake up,
And the door of my heart can be left open.