What Does the Fox Say?
September 2, 1953 — The Weekly Times

The Mossadegh Project | December 22, 2017                     


The Weekly Times newspaper in Melbourne, Australia published this biased piece a couple of weeks after the overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh, Prime Minister of Iran.

Australian media archive




NO TEARS FOR TEARFUL MOSSADEQ

Cartoon depicting Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh of Iran Since the Shah has resumed as ruler of Persia, it has been revealed that Dr. Mossadeq, who fled and was later captured, misspent Government funds scandalously to maintain his power, and has by his actions left the country bankrupt. Here are a few thoughts on the situation in the manner of (and with apologies to) Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet.

Awakened are the Persians from the Night;
The Evil Forces have been put to Flight,
And Lo! The Hunters of the East have caught
The Tearful Fox who kept them from the light.

Disturbed and gloomy was the Persian Sky,
And in the Tavern Men were heard to cry:
“We want to hold aloft the Flowing Cup
And pledge our absent Shah, then drain it up.”

And as the Cock crew, those who stood before
The Tavern shouted — “Open wide the Door !
Our rightful Ruler has come back to stay,
And we will see that he departs no more.”

The shifty Mossadeq has had his Day,
Has shown that he possesses Feet of Clay,
And that his Odor’s not that of the Rose,
But yet it lingers now he is away.

One day perhaps he’ll stand beneath the Bough
(No Flask of Wine, no Book of Verse, no “Thou”) —
To see him swinging in the Wilderness
Would be to Persians Paradise enow.

The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ,
Moves on; once more Man’s dominating Wit
Has moved him to pursue the saner Line,
And Persia will, we’re certain, gain by it.


A Study of Electoral Methods in Iran | CIA Report, Nov. 1953
A Study of Electoral Methods in Iran | CIA Report, Nov. 1953

Search MohammadMossadegh.com



Related links:

Rubaiyat Revised | Candid Comment | The Sunday Herald (1951)

Persian poet Mehdi Akhavan Sales Pays Tribute to Dr. Mossadegh

Thought on Mossadegh by Ann Thayer | The Daily Illini, Nov. 17, 1953



MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

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