Parnia Abbasi (2002-2025)

Translated by Ghazal Mosadeq

A poem by a young Iranian poet Parnia Abbasi who, along with her family, all civilians, was killed today in a brutal and unlawful Israeli attack in the Sattarkhan neighbourhood of Tehran.

The Extinguished Star

I wept for the both

for you

and for me

you blow at

the stars, my tears

in your world

the freedom of light

in mine

The chase of shadows

you and I will come to an end

somewhere

the most beautiful poem in the world

falls quiet

you begin

somewhere

to cry the

murmur of life

but I will end

I burn

I’ll be that extinguished star

In your sky

like smoke

ستاره‌ی خاموش

برای هر دو گریستم

برای تو

و خودم

ستاره‌های اشکم را

در آسمانت فوت می‌کنی

در دنیای تو

رهایی نور

در دنیای من

بازی سایه‌ها

در جایی

من و تو تمام می‌شویم

زیباترین شعر جهان

لال می‌شود

در جایی

تو شروع می‌شوی

نجوای زندگی را

فریاد می‌کنی

در هزار جا

من به پایان می‌رسم

می‌سوزم

می‌شوم ستاره‌ای خاموش

که در آسمانت

دود می‌شود.

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Vaz-e Donya Poetry Journal (Iran) publishes:Excerpts from an interview with poet Parnia Abbasi (2002-2025), featured in the roundtable on poets of the Gen Z:

"I look at everything in my life in a way that allows me to write about it."

Parnia Abbasi: Whenever I write something, I always show it to my mother, to my friends. I ask those around me what they think. I love seeing how people react when they read my poems, their facial expressions, their response, it’s fascinating to me. Honestly, this has become a huge part of my life. I look at everything that happens to me as something I might be able to write down, to express the feeling I had in that moment through poetry. In that sense, writing brings me peace. Even if it is just a little every night. Many of these poems I never submit or publish anywhere, but when I read them myself, it feels like those feelings are alive again inside me, and that’s deeply meaningful to me.

When I joined the poetry workshop, I was busy with work and university at the same time, but honestly, the workshop mattered far more to me than school or anything else. I would get excited beforehand, preparing something to say. Getting to know poets, seeking them out—that meant more to me than most other things in life. And it still does.