Why did they burn Giordano Bruno?Because the open mind is dangerous.
Because the power of the word is a weapon.
Because the freedom of life is might.
Because a free life is the might
against which the violence of power is futile.
Because the power of the word is our weapon,
- inquiry against domination.
Because an open mind is dangerous
for anyone who lives within their servitude.
Because Aristotle is overthrown,
and Copernicus expands the world.
Because mankind’s long journey
into new diversity and richness
led by humble free thought
bursts the bonds of slavery.
Therefore, they burned Giordano Bruno.
Therefore, - Because a human is larger
than the chambers, one is forced into,
than the weapons, one is faced with,
than their power, ineffectually
towering against Giordano Bruno's thought.
Therefore, not they, but he lives.
Piet Hein
(Translated by James Honzik)
"In 1584, twenty-five years before Galileo lifted a telescope, Bruno took the Copernican hypothesis to the outrageous new conclusion that the sun is merely one of an infinity of stars, which stretch across boundless and inexhaustible space." They burned him at the stake.
Wikipedia article about Giordano Bruno
Life Magazine article about Piet Hein
