Class of 2014

For every commencing and greeting, there is bound to be good bye
And I know I will say this in the years to come with such a sigh,

For I’ll never forget the junior class of twenty fourteen
For they were a class of such love, so caring and yet sometimes mean

I’ll remember the first day I entered the class of science two
They were so warm and friendly, yet noisy and a bit naughty too

I can still remember the first day in class with my sweet Yuki
Sitting all peaceful in class smiling so sarcastically at me

I remember last year when we had that painful public speaking?
How Amanda rocked premarital and Chu Shen swayed so chilling!

Remember when Cameraman Leon brought his lethal guns for speech?
Brendan forgot his lines, but then managed to finish with a reach

How could I forget those Lit classes with Ezekiel and 'Earnest'?
Those days with Caesar, Oberon, Kellers, Silas and the Tempest

The best day came when we went out to watch Gatsby at twin towers
Nando’s, Popcorn,  tears at the end with Leonardo’s Lenses

Newspaper Projects and then those Esther talks and the interviews
Yih Wei forever laughter and the day her tears broke my fuse

And who could forget scorching days under the hot sun that could kill?
When my coaching of the Helang football team lost seven to nil

And the day I raced Harrith, Caleb, Chris and master Yip Nigel
When Joshua crushed me down bad twenty-one to twelve in a nut shell

But I’ll never forget my lovely Lydia who's always there to see
The day my wrist was in plaster and she took that photo of me

And how can I forget my handsome charming Maeson, the usher?
And, the vibrant violinist, Chris who is a poor defender

And who could forget that steaming Debating day?
When later Nadia pwned me in class with such a sway

And, oh my God, the day Sarah stood strong for her love in class
Cracked and smashed the pedestal I stood on like sheer glass

And that late afternoon with my forever Vira in class
When her Beyonce brought down my tears like tinted glass

I will never forget you Savira for the biggest heart that you have inside
Sobbing in tears she told me, 'Ali, you're a fine dad' and that changed the tide

And those late afternoons in Lit class with Ilyana and the Puck
Trying to come up with an ending to Sophiya's love life with little luck

And that glorious day when Oh Wah Dat accepted my modest plea
We raced like rats in the pool, all watching, and I lost so miserably

And how can I forgive my commrades Eshmael, Haziq and Ibrahim
Though we lost way, had Roti Canai, slept half way, and came last in a grim

And my prosecutor Amy Kato always complaining for her mark
Not knowing she had always been my secret favorite in the dark

And how can I forget the words of Wong Kar Kei, truly my finest
She'll be a 'Star' writer with words that are strong yet never biased

And how can I forget my teacher and mentor the kind, cunning Kristen
She's a genius, I just know she’ll end up as some lawyer in Princeton

But there is one lady above all, I’ll remember forever
For she defined determination, hard work and true endeavor

For she was the one whom I learnt to respect and admire the most
For she was the one who stood up for her beliefs, never left her post

For she was the one who lead students in class and perfects in school
For she always pulled herself together in trouble, yet kept so damn cool

For she was wise in class, criticized me with every chance she had
For she was the first who cheered me up when I was upset and sad

For I’ll remember her ever blooming smiles on those rainy Malaysian days
For she showed me how to be happy, hopeful in many different ways

For she is none other than our one and only, Annie Liew
The one I wanted to say, ‘Hey..., I’m so gonna miss you’

I wish you and the rest of the class nothing but the very best
I hope you’ll succeed, be prosperous in life with its hidden test

Don’t forget each other in coming days, months and years to come
We made endless memories, more to come in our upcoming prom

I’ll never forget you, my dear friends, for as long as I teach
For you brought the sheer magic to our school and what we preach

God bless you my dear Cempakans in the life you’re about to embark
Keep in touch, fall in love, fly high, reach for the stars and never be afraid of the dark

Alireza Manzour
29th April 2014

Death of a Diva

Yesterday, the world awkwardly celebrated the so-called Women's Day while centuries have passed and still the western world is confused with its masculine ego driven by ignorance and fed by arrogance and long dated male supremacy; no matter how hard they try. 

Hollywood was first in the frontline to release its latest blockbuster mayhem of madness just hours before March 8th dawned to show just how they are still "bloody" committed to feminism and women rights in their new movie 300: rise of an empire serving as the sequel to the earlier version of an even worse distortion of history that this time was supposed to narrate the tale a true "lady" who lead the Persian Army against the dispersed tribes of Greece and defeated them marking what 21st century could and should see as an example of a nation who was so well advanced in culture that had a young  woman as its army general, leading soldiers in combat against savage villagers of the time who only knew how to subjugate and prosecute women for not only their uncivilized era, but for centuries to follow that is ever stained in our history from treating women as mere child-bearers, during the rule of Louis XIV and his Filles du Roi to senseless scavenging excuse for a human hunt of witchcraft throughout half a millennium in two different continents.

Noam Murro, the amateur director of the film, following the footstep of his mentor Zack Snyder who pioneered the franchise collaborating this time around as the producer with his wife Deborah and their oddly, yet rightly named film company Cruel and Unusual Films, in this sequel, had a hard time ending the movie since not only the plot was ridiculously crooked with little complication or characterization except for the "tyrannical blood thirsty Persians who were just pure evil and nothing more" and the "freedom loving" Greeks who fought fiercely and bravely against all impossible odds, typical western superhero material, and surprisingly won almost every single battle except for the one history actually has clear records for, downplayed tactfully, being the fall of Athens that got little reception in the plot filled and spewed with little dialogue or a decent narrative, nothing but bloody scenes in stylish gore that left half the audience in revolt and disgust that Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News courteously calls it "an ashen video game" safely giving it one out of five stars in the weekly review.

Nonetheless, what strikes me is how could the West who knows little about human rights let alone women's rights and its history from the Roman gladiators who provided entertainment through the slaughter of slaves, to the Vikings who were infamous for their savagery and bloodshed, to the insatiable thirst of its monks and masons who falsely accused innocent women of witchcraft, to their King Henry VIII of England who beheaded two of his unfortunate not four ;) but six wives, both convicted with fabricated evidences of adultery, to the physical torture and prosecution of suffragettes only decades ago, now trying to lecture the East on women rights. It is no surprise that the only surprise they could come up with on celebrating 8th of March, Women's day, would be a mere mockery of one of Persia's bravest women generals, Artemisia, who brought the male dominated Greek tribes down to their knees and was the living example of women bravery and courage. 

Ironically, Zack who wrote the screenplay himself, still claiming that the movie is solely fiction basing it on Frank Miller's inconveniently unpublished graphic novel distorts facts and history and ends the uncomfortably dragging plot by bringing the Persian Diva Artemisia down to her knees, which historically never happened, in the last scene of the movie, in a desperate attempt to provide the plot with some conclusion, portraying the Greek General Themistokles standing "manly" victorious looking down his sweaty six abs as Artemisia falls "femininely" down to her knees. Sadly, it is the best ending the West could come up with to such a contradicting tale, an absolute hysteria, leaving the East to wonder, with such male adrenaline still pumping and running on its heated chest and through its ignorantly arrogant veins, how could the West ever claim that it has left behind, its male madness. 

Alireza Manzour

09.03.2014

Flora

Friday dawn, the fortnight shall come for us to meet
Arrive at Grand hall, in air fall, and drop in feet

Through glass walls, I'll see that beautiful smile of yours
Walking to you, opening all those daunting doors

The daring day shall come for us to hold in hands
Lay down on the shore where I write your name on sands

Twilight time will twinkle the sparkle in your eyes
Those diamonds glitter like the sun longing to rise

Morning sky shall shine,  we're up to climb mounts so high
Where I kneel in snow white, and ask for us to tie

The moment will come for us to gaze, dive and drown
Dreaming you're my queen and kingdom, wearing the crown

Sunset brings that golden heart, on your chest, a gift
The token is our love, so we may never drift

The night shall fall and so I'll hold you in my arms
I'll promise to love you, forever safe, no harms

I'll be the sword, your soldier, castle is our home
Our throne is glory, eternal, bright like the Dome

Days will pass, seasons fall, years go by, so we age
Our story goes chapters never reach the last page

For I have hope, we're truly destined as one
You're the blossom, the flower, my Flora, like none

Alireza Manzour
December 13, 2013

He

He who gave us life in this dry dead land
will see us grow water from sour sand

He who poured rain down for our rose to grow
can't see our buds wither before the show

He who set stage for us to act and dine
can't turn the spotlight off when we should shine

He who brings Tempest to our island shore
can't leave us on Earth so lonely and sore

He who blessed us with a spirit so strong
can't see us in despair and go so wrong

He who blessed on us with the art to think
can't leave us so clueless without a wink

He who has made heaven and earth for us
can't have us beg for pennies in a bus

He who controls all possession and wealth
can't leave us in the dungeon with no breath

He who crafted us in black, brown and white
can't bare see us slay each other in fight

He who gave us this heart to care and love
can't watch us arrogant from high above

He who runs the blood in our every vein
can't be that far from us when we're in pain

He who gave us such worthy wings to fly
will never let us fall, drop dead and die

Alireza Manzour
20.11.2013 - 11:23pm

Tomorrow's Land

The night began too early, late last night

It was the fall of hope, the warmth of light

Deprived of sleep, alone, lonely in heart

Tried leaving the coffin, dead to depart

Kept crawling back and forth, torn dreams in sight

Pain in body and bones, cursed cramped so tight

Shaking shivering the chill with dried lips

Sweating cold, wet, freezing, feeling the whips

Reminiscence call, came haunting from door behind

Remembering better days when the world still shined

Memories came of youth, of love, of vows and hopes

When placed my faith in fate and fate in fair, all ropes

Damn! this damned Destiny had tricked me once again

To think that the sacrifice today be in vain

Tomorrow, tomorrow will bring us the king our demise

With no Lady Love and the fighting forests right behind

For time will wave and wash away our castles in the sand

For tide will come and drift away all that we hold in hand

For hope is nothing but a forgotten grain buried in the sand

That we hold dear today but it's no more in tomorrow's land 

Alireza Manzour 

3.11.13 at 3:11 am 

Destiny

My destiny is not your destiny

For your destiny is stupidity

For your solution is humanity

That you have left it in modernity

For you sing and speak in such a fear

And wish destiny make you a dear

For you live a dull life as dark as coal

I detest this with all my heart and soul

For you trust no one but your stingy self

Like a jar of honey on a broken shelf

For as long as you keep this in mere chain

Your reward shall be nothing but bitter pain

For you break broken hearts like a wooden twig

How you expect the next guy, not be a pig?

Alireza Manzour 

June 12, 2012

For I Care

"The Gaza Tragedy"

It didn't take that long for the first piece of news to come out and all we heard was an outcry of oh my God! and oh my God! Rockets have been fired into Israel, the rockets have reached Tel Aviv, oh my God! oh my God! Are we going to have a war? now we will have a war, yes we will definitely have a war, Israel will respond, they have to respond, they have to put an end to this, yes, they should be retaliating now, and I guess that's understandable, isn't it? No country can tolerate such a great threat. 

The next piece of news came, four dead on the Palestinian side and three on the Israeli side. Sounds fair I guess! Yeah, It's definitely fair; yeah I guess it's a fair war, well maybe not, fair or not fair, it's a war alright, but wait, wait just a second, there is just one problem, it's been seven days now since the war began and if you've not turned off your conscious just yet, the death toll on one side has now surpassed a hundred deaths whom have been more than 85 civilians, women and innocent children as young as three months old and on the other side, well sorry to disappoint you, but still, only three; so much for a war!!!? 

No, I'm afraid this is not a war, this is nothing but a massacre, a bloodbath, an 'Islamic Holocaust'  that is happening before our eyes and you know what the real tragedy is, the real tragedy is that the last Holocaust took place and we regret that we were ignorant, that the world was not awake, unaware, that the world did not care and why? Why didn't they stop the massacre be for it was too late. 

We learnt that day the price of ignorance and promised never again. The world united against racism, against discrimination, against tyranny, and against all that we as free men and women stand against and repel and rebel to and stood strong, and won and justice prevailed. But this one is happening and the world is watching, just watching yet we are silent again. 

Everyday, we spend hours browsing through the sites, scrolling down on our iphones and ipads and see the images, and hear the news of more and more men, women, children dying under the wreckage, buried under scorching debris, shot and shelled, torn apart, limb from limb, and the only thing we do, we 'like' it and 'share'  it and 'post'  it. 

 What has become of the human nature that we have grown so senseless, so heartless, so mindless that we either approve or disapprove, and talk and argue and gossip and gossip and yet, not for a moment, do we stop to think, to wonder, what has become of the human nature that we no longer feel, we no longer sense and we no longer understand the pain of others. Have we lost our sense of judgment and sympathy so desperately that we resort to such reluctance and ignorance?

What has become of the human nature? we used to live, we used to revive, we used to survive, we used to rebel, we used to revolt... it wasn't that long, it wasn't that long when our children saved the Jews from the Nazi's, and it wasn't that long ago when we abolished slavery, tyranny and inequality, and it certainly wasn't that long ago when our children kicked the Imperial British loyalists out of our great land the United States of America, and it wasn't long ago when we stood as Jews, Muslims, and Christian and lived in peace and harmony in the very same land that has become a mockery of human tolerance and human dignity. 

How long will it take? How long will it take for us to wake up from this nightmare? How long long will it take us to realize that another holocaust, that another Karbala is taking place in our very own backyard and the only reason we fail to notice it is simply because we have been senselessly satiated by it. How many more innocent Muslim children should die for you and I to come to our senses? 

Well, Obama seems to be enjoying his trip to Burma like there is nothing happening in the world and all you need to do is to click on yahoo to see Taylor Swift has tweeted her hair is going to be blond, and OMG! this and that and that and that's just that. Yes, I guess that is more important if you think about it, because George Orwell said it best that we are all equal, but then again some of us are more equal and I guess as long as there are Britney's and Bieber's, there is not much room for Bin Ali's and Bin Saleem's and their brutal deaths and massacre can't be that bad; after all, we all die anyway, so what's the point? Seriously, what's the point? What is the point of caring? Why should we care? No one cares about us? So the hell with them? So the hell with everyone. 

No, my friends, you ask who cares? well I care. I care about our brothers and sisters in whichever part of this Earth they might live and from whatever race they might be from and whatever color their face might be or whatever language they might speak, and to whatever God they worship, they are my brothers and sisters and I do care about them, and I will not be silent for they are a part of my family, a part of my decency to respond and not remain silent while they suffer so helplessly so help me God. 

Yes, help me God for I care again, for I feel again, for I sense again the pain of those who suffer in the name of ignorance and intolerance for they are my brothers and sisters and much like the piece of poem quoted carved and embedded in stone displayed as you enter the United Nations building in New York, as the Great Persian Poet, Master Saadi once said, 'We are bonded to each other like limbs of one body, when one is in pain, how can the rest stay sane.'  

Alireza Manzour 

November 21, 2012