What's in a name?

They asked me

To give it a name.

I sat numb for hours —

For I have none.

Why need a name,

When what I feel

Is as pure as fire —

How can I refine it more?

Why need a name,

When you can simply

Feel a white flower bloom

With a heart-touching fragrance?

Why need a name,

When I can sit beside you

For hours on end,

As if wrapped in paradise?

Why need a name,

When these feelings soar

Too deep for friendship,

Yet too hushed for love?

Why need a name,

When I can rest in your presence

For hours, at peace —

Unafraid of tomorrow?

Why need a name,

When your thoughts make me smile

And I listen

As if your stories are my own?

If everything has a name,

Why is there none

For the love that lingers

Between throat and mouth —

So beautiful, yet unsaid?

If everything must be named,

Why were Neruda’s sonnets

And Shakespeare’s verses

Left to mere numbers?

If all things have names,

What would you call

Those who walked away from love

Just to spare their hearts?

If everything had a name,

What would you call

The years of silent waiting —

Even when all hope had died?

Not all things go by names.

Some drift beyond language —

Moments that lose their magic

The moment they are named.