IRAN: Poets find inspiration in revolution

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In moments of national tumult, literature and history find resonance. In 1982, Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski, who had a keen eye for articulating times of change, published ‘Shah of Shahs’ about Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that ended of the reign of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. He wrote:

‘The Shah had created a system capable of only defending itself, but incapable of satisfying the people. This was its greatest weakness and the true cause of its ultimate defeat. The psychological foundation of such a system is the ruler’s scorn for his people and his conviction that the ignorant nation can always be deceived by continual promises. But there is an Iranian proverb that says: Promises have value only for those who believe in them. Khomeini returned from exile . . . Everyone wanted to see him, several million people were waiting to shake his hand. Crowds besieged the school building where he was staying . . . Elation and euphoria were in the air. People walked around slapping each other on the back, as if to say to each other -- See! We can do anything!’

Kapuscinski later had a conversation with a rug seller and used the Iranian carpet as a metaphor for a country:

‘Carpets are things that last -- a good carpet will retain its color for centuries. In this way, living in a bare, monotonous desert, you seem to be living in an eternal garden from which neither color nor freshness ever fades. Then you can continue imagining the fragrance of the garden, you can listen to the murmur of the stream and the song of the birds. And then you feel whole, you feel eminent, you are near paradise, you are a poet.’

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo