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On each page You will find a small footnote
with one of the many Grooks written by Piet Hein,
as the Danish contribution to our Italian home
- Agriturismo Villa Stabbia - and it's home page.
For years I (Dane and Webmaster) have been fascinated by the funny and touchy poems written by the Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein (1901 - 1996). A rare combination of a humanitarian and technologist - inventor - mathematician - scientist and author. He wrote in Danish and English, and often under the Old Norse pseudonym "Kumbel" meaning "tombstone".
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A psychological tip
Whenever you're called on to make up your mind
and you're hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find
is simply by spinning a penny.
No - not so that chance shall decide the affair
while you're passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air
you suddenly know what you're hoping. |
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He has written more than 60 books, many of these filled with Grooks (Gruk in Danish). These are the ones that he is known to a wider audience by - thousands of short and aphoristic poems.
Gruk is an abbreviation of
Grin and Suk (laughter and sigh).
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An ethical Grook
I see
and I hear
and I speak no evil;
I carry
no malice
within my breast;
yet quite without
wishing
a man to the Devil
one may be
permitted
to hope for the best. |
He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and studied at the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of Copenhagen (later to become the Niels Bohr Institute), and Technical University of Denmark. Yale awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1972. He died in his home on
Funen, Denmark in 1996.
MAJORITY RULE
His party was the Brotherhood of Brothers,
and there were more of them than of the others.
That is, they constituted that minority
which formed the greater part of the majority.
Within the party, he was of the faction
that was supported by the greater fraction.
And in each group, within each group, he sought
the group that could command the most support.
The final group had finally elected
a triumvirate whom they all respected.
Now, of these three, two had final word,
because the two could overrule the third.
One of these two was relatively weak,
so one alone stood at the final peak.
He was: THE GREATER NUMBER of the pair
which formed the most part of the three that were
elected by the most of those whose boast
it was to represent the most of the most
of most of most of the entire state --
or of the most of it at any rate.
He never gave himself a moment's slumber
but sought the welfare of the greater number.
And all people, everywhere they went,
knew to their cost exactly what it meant
to be dictated to by the majority.
But that meant nothing, - they were the minority.
And finally - two of my favorites throughout the years. Unfortunately
both in Danish, and I will not attempt to translate them - so for the benefits of Scandinavians -
Appel i Mørket
Jeg vågner og lytter i mørket. Noget har rørt sig.
Noget har givet et næsten umærkeligt kny,
En iling har kruset den spejlblanke natlige stilhed.
Nu er den ubrudt påny.
Dær ligger mit barn i sin verden af hvile og drømme,
tryg i en lun lille seng med en bog og en bjørn.
Kalder han på mig i søvne? - Nej, alting er stille.
jeg lægger mig trygt. Da vågner jeg:
grædende børn!
Væggene viger og åbner sig ud mod alverden -
ud mod de dyb hvortil menneskefællesskab når.
Det synger af afstande, åbenhed, menneskets ansvar
for sine mindste, de kommendes menneskekår.
jeg k a n ikke lukke min verden om bare det nære.
jeg ligger og lytter i natten. Der grædes og kaldes.
Det e r ikke fremmede børn som er sultne og bange
og flygter og græder i mørket.
Det er vores alles.
Giordano Bruno
Hvorfor brændte de Giordano Bruno?
Fordi sindets åbenhed er farlig.
Fordi ordets åndskraft er et våben.
Fordi livets frihed er en magt.
Fordi livets frihed er den magt
imod hvilken voldsmagt er forgæves.
Fordi ordets åndskraft er vort våben
mod inkvisitionens herredømme.
Fordi sindets åbenhed er farlig
for enhver som lever på dets trældom.
Fordi Aristoteler kan styrtes,
og Copernici udvide verden.
Fordi menneskenes lange vandring
imod ny mangfoldighed og fylde,
ledet af den ydmygt åbne tanke,
sprænger alle slaveriers bånd.
Derfor brændte de Giodano Bruno.
Derfor, - Fordi mennesket er større
end de kamre, som det kues ned i,
end de våben, som man vender mod det,
end de magter, som så magtesløse
tårnes mod Giordano Brunos tanke.
Derfor lever ikke de, men han.
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