Without a name

Det namnlösa

Mycket gör ont, som inte har namn.
Bäst är att tiga och ta det i famn.
Mycket är hemligt och dunkelt och farligt.
Bäst är att bära det vördsamt och varligt.
Bäst är att tryggt på det hemliga troutan att peta på frön som gro.
"Här gick aldrig tanken på spaning.
Allmoder, led mig med säker maning!"
Gott är att lyss til sin Moders röst
-ordlöst bekymmer får ordlös tröst.

Karin Boye

I came across this poem today and had to share it with you. It is written by the Swedish poet Karin Boye, who writes so very beautifully. It reminded me of all those things which surround us, for which we have no name - the unspoken unacknowledged fear and the intense love that makes your insides hurt and your eyes tear up to mention a couple.

Shakespeare asks: What is in a name? I always want to answer: Everything! When you can give something a name, when you know the name, it is demystified. It is somehow closer to you, even though nothing has changed except it has a name. Giving something a name makes it more real and present, but it also makes it easier to deal with. How can you deal with something you don't even know what is? In the giving of a name lies the acknowledgement of the thing/feeling/person. In the giving of a name you are really saying: I see you. I hear you. I recognize you.

In this poem though, Karin Boye points out that some things don't have names, some tings cannot be captured in words, such as feelings. And what are we to do? How can we tolerate living in a world where the very essence of us cannot be spoken. She suggests that sometimes the solution lies in another human being, in the poem specifically in a mother. For an unnamed feeling and discomfort and pain there can be unspoken comfort given to you. But the comfort has to come from the outside of you. When wrapped up in unnamed emotions there is no room for self comfort, and we are in need of the other. In the other we can find the comfort which we are unable to provide for ourselves. We also find acknowledgement of the unspoken feeling. And so in the comfort of the other, we not only are soothed, but the unnamed has been acknowledged and in a certain degree named, and therefore made less harmful to us. Our relationships with the people around us and our ability as well as theirs to help us find and see ourselves is truly amazing. Only with the help of the other can we truly see who we are.