Pendulum

The Persian Revolution's on again
that stalled the week that Michael Jackson passed.
Green shoots, that promised liberation then
may yet be trees, but change is rarely fast.
The generation that threw off the Shah
condemned their daughters to lives swathed in black.
But--growing tired of theocratic law--
their grandkids mean to wrest their freedoms back.
Rouhani gave the Mullahs a veneer
to  mask their autocratic Iron Fist
but he's a lot less Left than he'd appear
they'd nominated him to head their list.
When even Saudis try to modernize
embittered Persian Youth feel called to rise.