My God Given Name

I want to start the day with a new name
A new name for a new day
……………….Don’t call me strong
A name that says I am here to stay
Say my name
Don’t call me a strong black woman
Call me soft
Call me delicate
Call me precious, plant kisses on my forehead
And gently lay me down on a bed of moss and roses
Though all I may know is a bed of thorns on nightmares of anxiety
My sleep will now be nothing short of tranquil

Call me by my God Given name
……………….Don’t call me strong
Today I affirm that I am imperfect and perfect in all that I am
I am the final product of the hopes and dreams of the ancestors
Who moved kingdoms
To make Queendoms of us so that we may birth generations
To sing a new anthem
An anthem of my new name
For I am not here to tame or to be tamed
I am here in my full glory
Raging and roaring to unleash all that’s been hidden within so that I could fit

Call me by my God Given name
Let your tongue twist and turn till the vowels and constants
Iron out the unfamiliarity on your tongue
so that when my name rolls of the tip of your tongue with ease
I will stand and answer to my God given name
……………….Don’t call me strong

I want an existence of peace
And I will still slay the beast if you tell me that all I am is strong
I may be in a season of traitorous rains
Raging storms and rugged terrains
But I will answer to my new name
I will answer to my God given name

I will not dare look at feet
I will unbow my head
I will not accept defeat or the fear that has been falsely placed upon me as my destination
I will emerge from the ashes of my fears with flames of hope
I will honour my shame
I will honour my pain
I will honour my name.

This No Compass edition is supported by Multicultural Arts Victoria, as a part of the 2022 Ahead of the Curve Commissions.

Author: Flora Chol

Melbourne based South Sudanese writer, Poet and activist, Flora Chol migrated to Australia with her mother, brothers and sister in 2003. Flora describes herself as ‘an earthly black woman writing in a stream of literary consciousness’. In May 2019 Flora published her debut a Poetic Anthology, Tomorrow’s Dream. With writing from an unprovoked sense of creativity, the themes that are explored in her work delve into the complexities in society and the dynamics of growing up as a young South Sudanese woman in the Diaspora. As a Pan Africanist, Flora explores many themes and discourses which advocate for a free, self-reliant, and self-defining Africa. She embodies these beliefs through arguments which predominately deconstruct present day neo-colonial regimes. View all posts by Flora Chol