Today's Beautiful Gem: `My Baby Has No Name Yet' by Kim Nam-Jo,
translated from the Korean by Ko Won.

         Long ago I read somewhere about the following incident. A visitor
in a house and the mistress of the house were discussing several matters
of mutual interest. The conversation veered towards jewels, etc. When
asked about her jewels, the lady of the house volunteered to display them
after a while. The visitor was wondering what he might be viewing soon.
In the meanwhile, her children returned from the school. She hugged them
and told the visitor that they were her precious treasures and the jewels
of her heart. In every family, one of the pastimes for the would-be parents
is the choice of the name for the unborn child. I always feel that all
names are beautiful as they are all His and we are all descended from the
Supreme! Here is a Korean poem for your pleasure!

"My baby has no name yet;
like a new-born chick or puppy,
my baby is not named yet.

"What numberless texts I examined
at dawn and night and evening over again!
But not one character did I find
which is as lovely as the child.

"Starry fields of the sky,
or heap of pearls in the depth.
Where can the name be found, how can I?

"My baby has no name yet;
like an unnamed bluebird or white flowers
from the farthest land for the first,
I have no name for this baby of ours."

Om s'aantih: Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao

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