Politics and Poetry

Poetry begins where science ends. “What flower is that over there?” The gardener will answer, “A lily.” That’s a plain factual statement. The botanist will tell you that the flower belongs to the order of Hexandria monogynia. That is science. Edmund Spenser says, “It is the lady of the garden.” Spenser is a poet. Ben Jonson, another poet, calls it “the plant and flower of light.” Jesus asked his followers to take a lesson from the lily: “They toil not, nor do they spin. Yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." That is spirituality.

There is poetry in spirituality. In fact, poetry is another form of spirituality. A few weeks back, I wrote in this very same space that “If [poet] Keats cared to establish a religion, its deity would have been Beauty.” When Jesus equated himself (god) with Truth, Keats equated Beauty with Truth. Wordsworth found similar truth and sanctity in Nature. Isn’t every genuine poet on a spiritual quest?

But poetic truths are not scientific truths. Science sees hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water. The poet listens to the music of the water laughing down a mountain slope. The poet perceives a different truth. Poetic truths begin where the molecules stop.

What about politics? There is as much in common between politics and poetry as between kerosene and sugar though both kerosene and sugar have in them carbon and hydrogen molecules. Politicians and poets are both human beings. But the similarity quite ends there.

Politics is about power. About manipulations. Distortions. Invasions. Aggressions. The base side of humanity. And ubiquitous taxes.

Poetry is about truth. Beauty. Imagination. Intuition. Contemplation. The refined side of humanity.

If a politician can nurture a poet within, it will do him and his country much good. The bigot in Vajpayee was held under control by the poetry in his heart. The dominant politicians in today’s India will do a lot better with a little poetry in their hearts.

Poetry makes better human beings than religions and gods do. You will find criminals and terrorists among religious believers, not among poets. Can we inject some poetry in the veins of our political leaders?  

PS. Written for Indispire Edition 419: Poetry is the language of the heart? Do you think making poetry-reading compulsory for our politicians can make the country a little better place? #PoetryInPolitics