A Requiem for the King

Dedicated to the patriot and caring ruler of the middle-east

  

There he was

With tears in his eyes,

Watching his generals

Crying as a baby does

Hearing his people shouting:

“Death to the king”

Asking himself what he did

To deserve hearing such a thing?

He was tired of being the only man

Who they said was,

behind every bad plan.

 

An autocrat who cared for his people

He was,

Thinking He is the only one

Who knows the power of people

Giving Iranian women the right of voting

While fighting the pressure of Mullahs quoting:

“Women must only be cooking

And nursing children at home.

 

The crown He put

On Women's heads,

yet He saw them

Shouting for a clergyman;

A man who didn’t know

How the real human is,

coming to ruin a country

Letting the forces kill Women

for the hijab alone.

 

True, The king was a dictator

Nevertheless, a benign one,

Killing many

Who didn’t act in his favor.

Then the executions He stopped

Due to international pressure,

The infamous torture was next

 Those things were usual in His style.

Ruling same as the Communist Europe,

Yet, He couldn’t make up all the troubles.

 

 

The Shah announced to his nation:

“I’ve heard the voice of your revolution

I promise to find us the best solution”

But the people found him a very weak man

They were maniacs for the clergyman,

They saw him like he was the God

Saving them from the devil Shah.

 

The King became “The Flying Dutchman”

His people were angry,

They cared no more

 About this dying devoted man.

 

The same as Napoleon Bonaparte

Exile was the Shah’s life’s final part,

He did a lot as king for his country

He wanted Iran to be ready

For the World's new century,

But the people wanted him to be dead

They wanted political Islam instead.

 

 

The west went directly behind his back

He was the subject of the media’s attack,

The west made a saint out of Ayatollah

They gave Iran to hands of the Mullahs.

 

 

He raised the price of his country's oil

He didn’t want his resources to be spoiled,

But the west wanted him to be a servant

Not a patriot leader who was brilliant.

 

The Shah was the eye of his nation

He never lost his strong passion;

 

You wanted the best for your people

Now, they curse the clergyman

Who commanded them to rebel.

Author's Note

Your comments as a foreigner looking at the Shah will be very interesting to me, feel free to tell me your feelings toward him.
I have to thank my dear friend Ms.Lightsong, as I'm an amateur poet, she helped me a lot on editing it and if it has any harmony, it's because of her help. Thank you dear Lightsong:)

Reviews

[Alla Antsis]

Nima, your poetry is honest and close to my heart. I always thought that the Iranian Shah was progressive leader supporting rights of woman, aligned with democratic roadmaps…. My uncle (Iranian who came to study the transportation in the USSR and married my aunt in 1974) was killed in Iran during the revolution. But so many mistakes has been made by him (and allies) to cause such a drastic change of citizens toward the mullahs...

[Nima.Hope]

Alla, thanks for your kind words that made my day sweet.
It's always easy for us to judge a person like Shah, but when I put myself at his place, I figure out that he had many hard problems to deal with and the job he did was far better than expected. He had to make the Iranian people more open minded, but they were super religious and very caring for Mullahs. He couldn't gain the effect Mullahs had on people. Many of them didn't know anything about the world, modern science and modern culture. He tried so hard to make them educated, he sent them to America and Europe to study for free, and then when those so called educated people returned to their country, they turned their back on the Shah and made alliance with a dumb man who was a shame for humanity in the world. So, it was people's and those intellectuals' foolishness or it was the shah's lack of effort?
I don't know if you are in contact with Iranians inside Iran still, but if you chat with them, you will surely know that they are among the poorest nations of the world.
West really doesn't care for human rights, they only think of their own interest , like Putin and China. The only difference is that West has more free media and is more democratic. For example, does Mr Baydn really cares for Afghans? America gave Afghanistan as a gift to Taliban. So they wanted the same thing for Iran. A powerful and modern Iran can be better than Europe in many fields including culture,science, and military. They are very happy that Mullahs are rulling Iran. Mullahs are selling Oil in a very cheap price and have been the reason that U.S have many military units in Persian Gulf countries. If Shah was still rulling, Iran would be the king of Asia in all fields and never Arabia and UAE and Qatar would even dream of competing with Iran. But now? UAE is very modern and rich and Iranians are troubling in absolute dirt..............

[jacob erin-cilberto]

sometimes we just cannot take back all the bad things we have done....no reparation when we have caused so much hurt in the past.
j.

[Nima.Hope]

You're right. Jacob, how did you see the Shah at the time of revolution in 1979? I'm curious to know your thoughts towards an ally of the US?