Poems of a School Boy in Malay (Puisi-Puisi Seorang Budak Sekolah dalam BM)

It has been quite some time (a few years now, in fact) that any publisher/editor/writer has ever called me to ask for any poems to be published.. It was a call that I got while lepak-ing in Midvalley yesterday (from a local writer who asked for some of my poems/jottings), that made me think about how little I've been writing throughout these recent years..

When I arrived home, I went through my ancient collection of poems.. those that I've written during my secondary school days.. I found some simple-worded ones that I've written long before the political crises of 1998 (so don't accuse me of being a parrot of anyone for my "hasil penulisan di bangku sekolah" long ago).. I'll share one of 'em here:

Menara

Setinggi puncak
menara-menara itukah
.... kesopanan
.... dan budi bahasa dibina?

seindah reka bentuk
menara-menara itukah
.... warisan seni
.... dan budaya diabadikan?

seteguh asas
menara-menara itukah
.... pegangan
.... dan pendirian masyarakat dipupuk?

seketat kawalan
menara-menara itukah
.... keindahan
.... dan keaslian mayapada dibela?

sehebat berita
menara-menara itukah
.... pembangunan akal
.... dan intelek dilaungkan?

semewah ongkos
menara-menara itukah
.... agihan adil
.... pendapatan dijamin?

atau

menara-menara itu sekadar pemukau
agar kita terdongak ke atas
kagum dan bangga senantiasa
tanpa menyedari bahawa di bawah
terlalu banyak yang kurang dan lemah.

Wira Budiman Azizan
Oktober 1996
Tingkatan 5 Khaldun


[Note added on 31/8/2007: Some friends asked whether this poem was ever published before. Yes, it was published in "Dewan Siswa" magazine (May 1997) and after winning the Hadiah Sastera Siswa 1997, DBP also published it in the "Perjalanan Jarum Jam" anthology (1998). Sorry for not including references earlier.]