The sunshine of civilization

Surjit Aribam *

In the western world it was a small island--
The island of Greece which caught the first sunshine
The sunshine of civilization in the ancient past.
There on the back of an intellectual revolution
The human mind blossomed out,
Into various petals of human endeavor,
Groomed by creativity, inquiry and logic.

Then the sunshine spread out further and further
Enfolding other countries of the western world
As seeds of refined culture from Greece
Spread across the sea to reach their shores.
Many countries became civilized like barren islands
Turning green when seeds carried by ocean currents
Reach their shores and grow into plants.

But this onward march of civilization
Became sluggish and then stagnated,
When someone was born in Bethlehem.
Yes, that someone brought a spiritual revolution
Expanding our moral consciousness.
But sadly that revolution went beyond its bounds,
Toppling the human mind from its pedestal.

The human mind, the light of civilization
Which had been in full flight for centuries
Had fallen to the ground, its wings broken.
Then came the dark age of western civilization
When it hibernated more than a thousand years,
Only to wake up in the fifteenth century
When jolted by the fall of Constantinople.