Burmese students from Pegu College in lower central Burma who had been arrested and detained by authorities for writing and distributing a poem titled Daung Man (The Might of the Fighting Peacock), were released this week (10 April). How and why nobody knows. Hnin Wint Wint Soe, May Su Su Win, Ne Linn Kyaw, (Kyaw) Thet Oo, Win Min Htut, (M)aung (M)aung Oo, and Zeya Aung – were arrested on 29 March. Zeya Aung, son of U Aung, the proprietor of King Star teashop in Pegu, was detained in the border town Myawaddy in eastern Burma on 29 March with copies of Daung Man poem. Aung Aung Oo, proprietor of A2O Desktop Publishing Business in Pegu was also arrested for printing the poem. The important thing though is that this 2,500 year old civilisation continues to pack in the toursists who come in their plane load to see that promised rich and vibrant cultural heritage, great natural beauty, magnificent temples and of course, the welcoming and hospitable people. Did I mentioned that these welcoming and hospitable people live in fear. If only there was oil in Burma. If only the poets poeted … If only …

In his engaging book, Finally Comes the Poet, Walter Brueggemann, writes:

“The cry of the helpless, if they have a voice, will mobilize God to act …It is the same in the presence of Jesus. Bartimaeus, the blind man daringly initiates interaction with Jesus. He cries out saying, ‘Son of David, have mercy’ (Mark 10:47). Remarkably, the people around him try to silence him, to drive him back to his muteness (verse 48). In an act of urgent hope, however, the beggar cries out all the more. Jesus hears. Jesus heals and concludes, ‘Your faith has made you well’ (verse 52). A capacity to cry out the pain has caused health to come. The pain of the world, embodied in the largely silent congregation of ancient Israel and in the silence of this blind beggar, is the stuff out of which new life comes. Newness, however, requires faith in order to speak the pain. Out of voiced pain, Bartimaeus is permitted a new life. ‘Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way’ (verse 54). Had he not cried out in pain, he never would have come to a new life of discipleship.”

May those who have eyes to hear, hear. And those with ears to see, see. And may those who dare to write, write.