An extinguished star: Parnia Abbasi, young Iranian poet, murdered by Israel

Fausto Giudice, Tlaxcala , 16/6/2025

One of the missiles dropped on Iran by Israel on the night of June 12/13 hit a residential building in western Tehran, the Orchid Complex on Sattar Khan Street. The target was Professor Abdulhamid Minoushehr, a nuclear scientist teaching at Beheshti University. The missile destroyed the third, fourth and fifth floors of the building. Among the “collateral” victims was the entire Abbasi family: Parnia, 23, her brother Parham, 16, and their parents Parviz, a retired teacher, and Massoumeh, a retired bank employee. Parnia taught English, worked at Bank Melli and was a poet.

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   Translated by Ghazal Mosadeq

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.

 

This poem was published by the poetry magazine Vazn-e Donya [Weight of the World] in an issue devoted to “Generation Z poets”, the result of a writing workshop. Excerpts from a magazine interview with the author:

“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.”