“Alphabet” (2017)

A for the freedom, bestowed upon us so plain,

A for the water and power, given free of any gain,

B for a baton in the hand of a sinister man,

On the day it rains down on a helpless clan.

P is Iranian money, now worth only dirt!

In dreams, I saw a king who made his return.

T like a tyrant within prison confines,

I’ll no longer speak of the Iranian girl’s crimes.

Th, record of our era, of all deeds so base,

A curse on the crops we’ve allowed to disgrace.

J for Jannati, alive and ever profound,

Thanks to Jannati, jokes forever are found.

Ch, oil wells, where’s all the money gone?

Bound and speechless cash, why has it withdrawn?

H like a woman’s veil from childhood to grave,

Either by gentle words, or that forced with stave.

Kh for a killer, whom we know as Khalkhali,

Despite many killers, his place is left empty.

D starts Daesh, a child of ignorance grown,

So much like us in the faith they’ve shown.

Z for humiliation, this nation’s doomed curse,

With all these addicts, where is the cause, or worse?

R for the leader, R ends with the same,

He is singular, upon us lays his claim.

Z like a woman, like those average, in her say,

Why’d you ask? She spoke of distress from lack of pay.

Zh the city’s ragged, a working child is seen,

This innocent child forced to labor clean.

S is for Setareh, danced with love, carefree,

One day was paradise, laughed through blows to be.

Sh like a swindler, ruthless and unkind,

Mercy countless, in vultures and hyenas we find.

S for the visage of Nahid, brighter than the sun above,

Ignorance’s acid shattered her beauty’s love.

Dh the wail of humanity rose sky-high,

In September for Zhaleh, in August ’88, they die.

T like a hanging noose, held up high and bountiful,

First place we hold, in the world, as amount so full.

Z outwardly seems like, the last prophet’s parade,

Yet no scent has it of the essence mankind has made.

A like the turban circling around a tyrant’s reign,

The fate of each tyrant ends with a coffin’s domain.

Gh for Gaza, built with Iran’s gold each year,

Yet with our oil’s money, we always drew near.

F for the rebellious, unfaithful and defiant,

Eighty-eight percent of Iran’s people reliant.

Q for every murder, assigned its daily share,

Like beads of a rosary, all linked with such care.

K like Kahrizak, a place of terror fierce,

So many young souls it took, the earth to pierce.

G like a graveyard where cries from the east arise,

The shout of humans, from the depth, pierce the skies.

L for Lebanon, held above the Iranian worth,

The table was full of nights of hunger’s dearth.

M like an official, responsible to reply,

Yet answers only come to God’s ears or the sky.

N starts with sandals, ends with sandals too,

Everywhere chaos arose, beneath the sandals’ cue.

V is for a governor, who the state held dear,

Each one reaped solely what their hands would endear.

H for nuclear, a nation weary became,

With slight softening, closed is the core’s flame.

Y possible tomorrow, the poet may be in sorrow’s cast,

Either in Rajai Shahr or in Evin, at last.

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