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The Veil
06-Jan-2012
The Veil
A Veil was discovered,
in the year, one thousand nine hundred thirty six.
Buried deep in the ground,
like the Sphinx.
Men gathered, surrounded it.
Around the Veil, tents were built.
Most men were illiterate,
but also others came,
with high credentials in hand, not too late.
Discussed its stature,
many issues were raised.
Merits of it, its message,
its effect on the future of the land,
were parleyed
Some advocated, somehow, activating the Veil,
without exactly knowing what it would entail.
Tried to find a button, a thread,
or, to discover a hole to peek through.
Some wondered without a clue,
A few men packed and fled.
Yet others were more cautious,
did not want to start a catastrophic event,
Recited words of God to calm the nerves,
“If The Divine wanted its true nature to be known,
whatever this Veil is, would not have been covered,”
warned an elderly clergy man.
“Investigate and approach with caution,
better yet, post a sign, ‘Do Not Touch’,
or, gaze, nudge, peck,
pull, push, stretch, stroke, or fondle.
Bury the Veil, keep it covered!”
“The Veil must be ascertained, brought to light!”
ordered a man, in military attire,
seemed to be in charge.
“Let me delve into its true nature, get me a lantern, a shovel.
I will discover. Excavate till it’s fully exposed.
Get me a hammer and a chisel.
Where is the damn shovel!
Get me a hundred strong workers!
clear the tents!
Get me infantry men with loaded guns!”
said the military man, by now, fully in charge.
“I will unveil it!” he proclaimed.
“May God have mercy on us!
These fools! These fools with loaded guns!
They don’t know what they’ve done.
Underneath the Veil, unknown radiations exist,
Exposing men to these rays,
will cause them to go berserk! Much like zombies!
They will lose control of their hands,
and their brains,
will cause them to grope women in the streets,
in the alleys!”
said a spectacled man,
with a doctorate degree in physics.
Under the rule of the military man,
The King to be more precise,
six years of digging passed,
the Veil not yet fully unveiled,
but then, The King,
was forcibly removed,
and so, the Veil was once again buried.
Ever since then, till now,
archeological digs,
have been conducted many times,
off and on,
without ever,
the true nature of the Veil being discovered.
At the moment,
the Veil is buried again, in a sarcophagus,
guarded by men with loaded guns, and beards,
waiting for another day,
for its true nature to be revealed.
But debates,
whether to expose the Veil,
or not,
still rages on,
much like the first day,
when for the first time it was discovered,
in the year, one thousand nine hundred thirty six.
by MPD, ©2012
Footnote: Many years ago I read a book by Carl Sagan, called “Contact,” and later when a movie, played by Jodie Foster, based on the book came out, I watched it a few times. In that story, an extraterrestrial message is received by the inhabitant of the planet earth, and at the time of the discovery a debate rages on about what to do with the message. This poem reminds of that story.
Blog Image: by Red Wine, please his archive here >>>
Translation: For the Farsi translation of this poem by Divaneh, please see here >>>
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I am also greatful to Red Wine for creating the above Blog Image
by Multiple Personality Disorder on Wed Jan 25, 2012 09:15 PM PSTThank you. It looks great.
Thank you all for reading and commenting
by Multiple Personality Disorder on Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:03 AM PST,,, and I am specially grateful to Divaneh for translating this poem into Farsi,
//iranian.com/main/blog/divaneh-42
.....
by yolanda on Sat Jan 14, 2012 10:43 AM PSTThank you, now it is perfect!
Really good one!
by sima on Sun Jan 08, 2012 12:43 PM PSTSo glad to see you at your quirkiest best!
...............
by Latina on Sat Jan 07, 2012 05:11 PM PSTMPD,
Very impressive writing!
خوب
salman farsiSat Jan 07, 2012 04:56 PM PST
خوب حداقل م پی دی یه چیزی هم یاد گرفت
"کشف" در عربی یعنی آشکار ساختن مثل
"کشف" الاسرار خمینی
For an Islamic democracy
Excellence Unveiled
by divaneh on Sat Jan 07, 2012 02:11 PM PSTThanks for sharing this truly fantastic poem MPD. Creativity and imagination meeting the history and social life. Loved it.
........
by yolanda on Sat Jan 07, 2012 12:51 PM PSTRea,
Your post cracked me up! LOL! The blog picture reminds me of a Star wars character!
Intriguing and charming
by Rea on Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:12 AM PSTHeavy wind and a light breeze at the same time.
PS. it's not the picture of VPK I hope, that's not how I imagined him. ;o))
Guess, next time
by Anonymous Bugger on Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:47 AM PSTI shall actually read the poem before correcting some one. it's all souri's fault :). But then again it takes a "bugger" to force the "unveiling" of the coded msg for the less sophisticated like me ;:)).
cheers!!!
A masterpiece, indeed.
by vildemose on Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:34 AM PSTA masterpiece, indeed. I'm so impressed and thank you for sharing it.
A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
We love you too :)
by Souri on Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:31 AM PSTOur lives would become dull without your beautiful contributions and your humor, honey.
Happy New Year !
There, I fixed it
by Multiple Personality Disorder on Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:32 AM PST.
.
There, in my other comment, in the subject line I added a winking face after the Veil, "The Discovery of the Veil ;O)" That should fix the problem.
I love you all, you are the greatest!
O boy.........
by Souri on Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:08 AM PSTMPD is bugged !! lolo
Love it, so much.....
MPD Thank you! Great piece!
by Mehrban on Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:07 AM PSTAll the commotion about Dis- cover-y and re- cover-y throughout the years. You are superb!
O boy! I KNOW what discovery MEANS
by Multiple Personality Disorder on Sat Jan 07, 2012 09:52 AM PSTI KNOW what Kashf MEANS. I know what unveiling, removal, and all of that stuff means. This poem, the way it's written, and spoken of, is not out of dumbness. The entire poem is allegorical. Do you expect me to say Reza Shah Pahlavi instead of the 'military man', and hijab instead of 'The Veil'. And the 'elderly clergy man', which one of the ayatollahs should I name here, and the PhD guy, which one of the dumb intellectuals should replace him with? 'The hijab was unveiled in the year 1936, and they wondered what it was', O boy!
I am not mad, I'm having fun.
I like this one better
by Souri on Sat Jan 07, 2012 09:24 AM PSTI agree more with AB's translation.
AB 1 Vs MPD 0 :)
"Unveiling the veil"
by Anonymous Bugger on Sat Jan 07, 2012 08:57 AM PSTkashf = to reveal, to unveil
dear MPD
by Souri on Sat Jan 07, 2012 08:34 AM PSTAre you sure that the "discovery" is the accurate translation of the word "kashf" in this context?
You are the master of translation Farsi-English, but something seems odd to my ear.
The Discovery of the Veil ;O)
by Multiple Personality Disorder on Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:26 AM PSTOn January 8, 1936, during a graduation ceremony, Reza Shah announced the law according which wearing hijab or Islamic veil became against the law, thus; the veil was officially outlawed. From that day, the police was ordered to use force to take the veil off the head of women on the street. This act was indeed against basic human rights, which backfired and people became strangers to their regime. Six years later, Reza Shah was forced to abdicate by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran on September 16, 1941, and the mandatory unveiling law was forgotten.
Sources: [1], [2], [3]
P.S. I know what 'discovery' means ;O)
کشف حجاب
Multiple Personality DisorderSat Jan 07, 2012 07:49 AM PST
بخشنامهٔ کشف حجاب جهت تصویب رضاشاه در تاریخ ۲۷ آذر ۱۳۱۴ از طرف رئیس‌الوزرا به دربار فرستاده شد تا در آغاز دی‌ماه فرمان اجرای غیر رسمی قانون کشف حجاب به تمام ولایات ایران ارسال گردد. در ۱۷ دی سال ۱۳۱۴, رضا شاه به همراه ملکه پهلوی و دختران خود که برای نخستین بار چادر به سر نداشتند به دانشسرای دختران می‌روند و در آن گردهمایی سخنرانی می‌کند.
>>>
Wow! Great one!
by Souri on Sat Jan 07, 2012 07:36 AM PSTThank you MPD jon.
A lot of emotion and a whole historic review is expressed in this poem.
You are a genius!
Seconding Yolanda
by Monda on Sat Jan 07, 2012 06:57 AM PSTThinking one of your Magnum Opi!
Your review of Separation in still in my head so will have to read your poem again later.
...
by Red Wine on Sat Jan 07, 2012 06:48 AM PSTجنابِ میم پِ دال عزیز ... غوغا فرمودید .از خواندنِ شعرِ شما لذت بردیم .
با سپاس .
جنس خوب لای چادره
Shazde Asdola MirzaSat Jan 07, 2012 06:38 AM PST
That's how I'd interpret the "Alien Message"!
thanks MPD jan
by Orang Gholikhani on Sat Jan 07, 2012 06:27 AM PSTNice epic poem
Orang
................
by yolanda on Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:40 PM PSTHi! MPD,
OMG! This is a cool & deep epic poem. This is your Magnum Opus! Thank you for ringing in the New Year with this great poem! My favorite is the 2nd half starting from the 6th paragraph all the way to the end. 1936 refers to the year of de-veiling? I read it in the book , the Good Daughter! Veil is such a sensitive topic! To me, it is no big deal, but for Iran, it is such a huge deal! Unbelievable! Fighting over a piece of fabric! My personal opinion is to make hejab optional, this way, girls will have more freedom!......and then, Iranian girls won't be disqualified in the soccer games or Taikwondo competition because of IRI's mandatory hejab law! The people, who like to wear hejab, can still wear it to make them feel religious!
I watched the movie "Contact" one time only. It is funny that I thought about the movie, Contact, last nite after finishing reading about "A Separation" on Wikipedia. The final scene of A Separation is that the judge asked the girl to decide which parent to live with....the director stopped the movie and let the audiences pick (imagine?) the girl's decision. I recall "Contact" has 2 different endings also that audiences have to pick an ending!
This is a great piece! I am glad you added the copyright symbol at the end!