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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THAT IS THE ONLY MIND
These ramparts of yours—
who has promised to build them for you?—
this morning suddenly
we find ourselves
floating on the ocean
amid winds and waves.
Suffering itself builds the last shelter
in which
you will spend
the cruelest of nights.
Do repeat to me what I have promised
(it has been a long time),
so that I will be present on that day to serve as your
witness.
The arrows that struck me—I still bear them
in the flesh of my body.
They have not been returned.
Take good care of your own garden, brother.
I am a bird and, like other birds,
will only look for fresh water and good seeds.
We will be back in your garden.
Be the monarch of your life
and sign the decree
to exile suffering
and call back from all points of the universe
the power of birds and flowers,
the vitality of youth.
The whole universe will smile
when your eyes smile.
This poem was written in 1960 in the small Bamboo Grove
Temple in Gia Dinh, where my hut had a dirt floor. I wrote
this for young monks and nuns, confirming my love and
support. I knew they suffered so much in the situation of
War.