Description of an Idea

Living in a country that is piecing itself together in the ragged aftermath of the Soviet idea, you can't really be apathetic about politics and religion. Love God or not, He's an idea with life-altering consequences in this place. And politics can consume the lives of people, particularly young people, as happened last year. The power of an idea is nowhere as evident as where the outcome of it could mean either life or death. All of which is to say - I like Bruce Dawe. A lot.

Description of an Idea

You can nail it to a cross

and it will rise again after three days.

You can put it in the arena with wild beasts

and it will survive its own dismemberment.

You can tie it to a stake and light faggots under it

and the crackling of the flames will speak volumes.

You can exile it to Siberia

and it will still cry out with the voice of Ivan Denisovich.

You can beat it to a bloody pulp in a public square in Peking

and it will still think of freedom.

You can turn the Star Chamber and the SS

   and the KGB and the Savak

        and the State Security Bureau

             loose on it

and someone somewhere will still think it

and someone somewhere will still die for it

and someone somewhere will give it new life.

For an idea is an organism more mysterious in its action

                                                              than the miracidium.

... You can declare an idea anathema to 999,999,999 people

and the billionth will reach for a dictionary...

Bruce Dawe