Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
Because even today I still arrive.

Look at me: I arrive in every second
To be a bud on a spring bench.
To be a tiny bird, whose wings are still fragile,
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,
In order to fear and to hope,
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
Of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river.
I am also the bird, which when spring comes, arrives
In time to eat the mayfly.

I am a frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond.
I am also the grass-snake who approaching in silence,
Feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
My legs as thin as bamboo sticks.

II am also the merchant of arms, 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.

I am also the pirate , my heart not yet capable of seeing
And loving.

I am a member of a politburo, with plenty of power in
My hands.
I am also the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to my
People, dying slowly in a forced labor camps.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in
My hands.

My pain is like a river of tears-so full it fills up all
The four oceans.

Please call me by my correct names so that I can hear at the
Same time all my cries and my laughs, so I could see
That my joy and pain are but one.


Please call me by my correct names so that I could become
Awake, so that the door of my heart be left open,
The door of compassion.