The Spirit of Allah

a musical about Ruhollah Khomeini and the Iranian Revolution

Posted by Jew from Jersey
15 July 2003

Scene22. “Alone in a cold world”

mullahs, peasants, townspeople

[The entire stage, in the same condition as in the last scene, is filled to capacity with mourners. The music is sad. The shrouded body of ARK is carried through the streets. Mourners desperately grab at it, occasionally managing to tear off pieces of the shroud. The poor and middle classes, the clergy and laymen, sing together.]

• Crowd: O imam! O father! O sweet and cruel lord!
• We loved you, hated you, feared you, and still
• You’ve left us alone in cold, cold world
• No man has the measurements your shoes to fill

• You used to tell us that Islam could strike the world like lightening
• And all would follow us to the day of reckoning
• But other Muslims dissent and the west still seems frightening
• And now it’s us who look for a guiding hand beckoning

• You used to tell us Islam had the answers to all our questions
• But which one of its interpretations do we use?
• If only you were here to make the right selections
• None among us has the power or the authority to choose

• There are evil forces sweeping through the land
• Corruption and greed and petty strife
• The region is unstable and we fear the hidden hand
• You’ve left without the means to understand this life

• O imam! O father! O sweet and cruel lord!
• Why do the stars shine dimmer tonight?
• We cry for ourselves, alone in a cold world
• We cry for your assuredness and sense of right

• You used to tell us that we didn’t need anyone
• But we can’t even live on what we have sown
• The price of oil falls while foreign investors run
• And we lack the capital to develop on our own

• You used to tell us the faqih was our only guide
• But who can guide us now that you’re gone?
• We thought you were the Imam at the end of all time
• But we all grow old and time drags on

• But none of this would matter if only you returned
• Surely the world wouldn’t grow colder each day
• If only you could tell us that the fire still burned
• Surely our doubt wouldn’t grow the longer you’re away

• O Iran! O homeland! O our hearts’ blood, our jail!
• How much have we given? How much have we gained?
• Only to be alone in cold, cold world
• We must look to ourselves if we turn again.

THE END