Interlude - "Naming Ceremony at Bijie"

I knight my Chinese student
"William",
after my father,
and tell him that there is a song
about Billy Boy
and making classic
American cherry pie.
We ritualize this tradition here,
giving each student
an English name.

There is no sword or crown -
only a fly swatter we use
to imprint these alien-to-tongue names,
a team race to the blackboard
to swat each English name
as it is bellowed out in class.

In return,
the students offer a Chinese name to me,
their foreigner, their teacher for the summer.
A chosen name
after voting
thumbs up or thumbs
down,
a remnant from yesterday's lesson
on democracy and voting.
They baptize me with "Bai Ling",
a rare Chinese bird
with a beautiful song voice.
They tell me,
"We give this name to you
because you fly high
and free
and beautiful
and have a
song
like this special bird."

In mute thanks,
I enfold my wings
around their open hearts,
and whisper
a quivering love song
into the palms
of their gracious hands...

- Marianne Forman