Just an idea...

 

In the beginning was an idea

and the idea took root

and we drew stick figures

to share the images we saw.

But that wasn’t enough...

so we invented symbols

and symbols became letters

and letters became words

and we described the intangibles—

light and dark, hot and cold,

the sound that tree frogs make,

the “forty shades of green” on an Irish hillside,

the smell of the rain on a summer's day–

all the subtleties that paint the world

    —and everything in it.

The words became images again...

not stick figures, ones 

we could feel, could smell, could taste, could hear...

These images were written into languages

and lyrics, and poetry, and books;

shared in sculpture and art, photography and film,

to become the history of our civilization.

Never underestimate the power of an idea

for it will move mountains, ford rivers, cross oceans

travel to the moon and beyond—

in stories that will last much longer

 than any one of us ever will.

 

©Ginny Brannan 2023