All Sorrow Fail and Sadness

The streams shall run in gladness,

The lakes shall shine and burn.

All sorrow fail and sadness

At the Mountain King's return!

His crown shall be upholden,

His harp shall be restrung.

His halls shall echo golden

To songs of yore re-sung.

AVI has the current song of the Iranian revolutionaries. We know there are factions within Iran that are in touch with the US and especially with Israel that have been directing the targeting of regime checkpoints in the streets. The longing for an end to the current Iranian regime among the people is very strong. 

It is hard for us as Americans to imagine the power that royalty has on the imagination in societies that are not, like our own, based on an ideal of social equality. For generations, the Scots sang Will Ye No Come Back Again? and The Skye Boat Song about "Bonnie Prince" Charlie, who was defeated in April 1746. (Indeed, yesterday was the anniversary of the Battle of Culloden.) After the horrors of the French Revolution and Napoleon's bloody attempts at empire, the Bourbons were restored; but, for that matter, Bonnie Prince Charlie himself was a Stewart, who had been expelled in the English Civil War and then restored. The '45, as the attempt to install him in Scotland was called, followed two earlier attempts, one in 1689 and one in 1715. 

Tolkien's song thus captures something that is deeply felt in societies with a tradition of royalty. We see it too in the Arthurian stories. I wonder if it won't yet come to pass in Persia.