Spoken Word: Names
In 9 months, I took this shape,
I did not choose my gender,
I did not choose my name.
But, I had to be labeled, for I had to be ‘addressed’,
Thus, a prisoner’s tag, a name was set.
The name was the source,
The source of my relations
The source of my world,
The source of an identity
The source of an illusion.
That name became me, I became that name
My name was suddenly me, I was suddenly my name
But I wondered:
Would I still be my name if I were not a boy,
Would I still be my name if I were differently named
Would I still be my name if I were a girl
Would I still be, or, not be?
Soon, I grew up, my body changed,
My mind developed, my nature changed,
Yet, my name was the same
My prisoner’s tag
My ID. My reality. And that, I did not choose.
And I still wonder:
Would I be the same without my name
Or rather, another name
Or rather, no name?
For can I actually be named?
Who was I before the birth certificate registered me as a citizen of a country?
Who was I when I was in my mother’s womb?
For what did the world, or rather my world, address me as, before my name was given to me?
For can a name really determine who am I?
Is my name my identity or is it just a limitation?
Is it for the convenience of others to address me, or is it really me?
I wonder: If I had no name, would I, in fact, ‘be’? And what would I ‘be’?
For, you see, being, and that too without a name, is a funny, unimaginable thing.
How would it look like if my ID had the name — Unnamed?
So, the next time you mispronounce or misspell my name,
I’d thank you for it is yet another reminder that I am not my name
So, who chose me? Who brought me here?
Am I just a drop in the seven billion?
Or am I something more?
Who am I?
No one told me, ever.
I was born in a world I did not choose
And named with a name I did not lose
Yet I believed my name was me
And I was my name
Until I realized:
There’s something more to me, my name
And that is who I am.
I am that,
That star
That galaxy
That universe
That cosmic force
That consciousness
That power
Contained in the limitation of this body.
That is really me.
I am That, not just my name.
And so are you.
