Persian prospects

The Mullahs cut the internet and phone
as if a world made deaf could not react
to evidence they're in this all alone;
like al-Assad, their patron's overtaxed.
Far-scattered proxies, doing Moscow's will
from Tartus to Caracas, and beyond
won't push on like they're underwritten still;
that stream of funds had been the only bond.
Transparency sustains democracy;
in darkness, counting votes would be a joke.
The underpinning of theocracy
is always violence, and fear, and smoke.
Two generations since Pahlavi fled
the price is on the Ayatollah's head.

Persian passions

Two generations, Persians in the street
display more piety than they may feel.
When Mullahs dictate how we shave, or eat,
Religion's more performative than real.
Sistani fled; he never meant to rule;
"My kingdom's not of this world" as it's said.
elSadr may dream government's his tool,
but ask Khoei how he got so dead.
The French threw off the Church when they ditched kings;
laïcité's been sacred, ever since.
'Though government can deal with many things
morality's just foreign to a Prince.
Another failure in al-Assad 's mold;
Khamenei lines his Moscow nest with gold.

the piper will be paid

The gold reserves are finite, when they're spent,
his bankers won't hold any cards to play.
The bankruptcy of Putin's government
looms ever closer with each passing day.
The blitzkrieg Putin's generals had planned
presumed the secrecy Joe Biden'd blown.
While Europe stands fast with the better man,
the Russians find they're in this fight alone.
Ukraine's imposing sanctions, of a sort;
the Shadow Fleet's diminished, one by one.
Explosions on the Baltic,  or in port,
discreetly,  Special Forces get it done.
Ambitions Putin plainly can't afford
condemned a generation to grim war.

Turning

Apollo's chariot's around the mark
accelerating back the way he'd come.
It's not yet cold, but shadows stretch out dark,
and bones grow porous for the dearth of sun.
Midwinter's child grew tall, and went to school
--So long's elapsed, some details have grown vague--
just tagging home to mark each festive Yule,
until his college battened down for plague.
Away from pious claims that"God's the Cause"
as if Aquinas truly could have known,
celestial motions point to deeper laws
that now, we all acknowledge as his own.
We congregate with friends, this darkest night
to celebrate the lord who shattered light.

running on vapors

The Kremlin's buying rubles back for gold
like corporations pumping up their shares.
The specie Romanovs worked hard to hold's
evaporating in the Autumn air.
Potempkin's nation let slip the facade
that its economy can still support
the stupid war that Cyril blessed "by God",
while frightened bankers play their last resort.
That bullions finite, and his credit's shot;
Provincial Banks are glutted with his scrip.
When all that's left are nukes, and kompromat,
Ukraine hangs strong, while Putin 's seen to slip.
Failed bid to shatter Europe's common front
reveals this heir to Czars' the martial runt.

Emperor's Clothes

The Kremlin's buying rubles back in gold
from oligarchs intent to liquidate
whatever Russian assets can be sold.
The price is weak in such a panicked state.
Whoever can, is heading for the door
their capital flees faster than they can
as Russians realize they're in a war,
morale's way down since when this all began.
Potempkin's nation keeps up the facade
that it's a peer to any State extant.
But three days in, their troops had shot their wad;
and bluster won't achieve what soldiers can't.
That blitzkrieg war-chest long since burned away,
and troops get balky when the Brass can't pay.

Double Tap

"Leave no survivors!" Kegsbreath barked aloud
the crap no honest officer would think.
As if a US serviceman'd be proud
to murder sailors flailing in the drink.
Destroying evidence is always wrong--
like witness tampering--and this was both.
Loud coward who's intent on looking strong
blacked out on adolescent moral growth
Pariah Nation, strutting the world's stage;
dark parody of anything we'd been.
Apologists may point to Trump's old age;
historians are not acquiring him.
What his own Cabinet does in Trump's name,
belongs to him; he can't deflect the blame.