Sister Jina reads this poem from Call Me By My True Names - The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh, republished here with the kind permission of Parallax Press.

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TRUE SOURCE

Where will I find the Himalayan range?

In me there is a strong and graceful mountain peak,

stretching up, lost in mist and clouds.

Let us go together to climb that nameless mountain,

let us sit on the ageless blue-green stone,

quietly watching time weave the silken thread

that creates the dimension called space.

Where does the Amazon River flow?

In me a winding river makes its way.

I don’t know from the depths of which mountain

it pours out.

Night and day, its silvery water

winds toward no fixed destination.

Let us go together, putting a boat

on its fiercely flowing stream,

to find our way together

to the common goal of all beings in the cosmos.

Which galaxy shall I call Andromeda?

In me there is a river of stars moving silently

with millions of brilliant stars.

Let us fly up together, tearing the net of space,

opening a way on the path of the clouds.

The sound of your flapping wings will reach

even the most distant planet.

Which species shall I call Homo sapiens?

In me there is a little boy.

His left hand lifts up the curtain of night.

His right hand holds a sunflower, his torch.

The child’s two eyes are stars.

The child’s hair flies curling in the wind,

like clouds over the ancient jungle on a stormy afternoon.

Let us approach the child together and ask,

“What are you looking for? Where are you going?

Where is the true source? Where is the final destination?

And what are the ways home?”

The little boy just smiles.

The flower in his hand suddenly

becomes a bright red sun,

and the child goes on alone—

his path through the stars.

I wrote this poem in 1977. I set it to music after a retreat

held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before flying back to Paris. I

finished it on the plane.

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