Parnia Abbasi, a gifted young poet from Iran, was among the civilians killed in an Israeli attack in Tehran’s Sattarkhan neighbourhood. Her poignant poem, The Extinguished Star, captures the sorrow of a life and light abruptly put out:
“I wept for the both
for you
and for me
…
I burn
I’ll be that extinguished star
In your sky
like smoke.”
Translated by Ghazal Mosadeq and published by Pamenar Press, the poem expresses the contrast between freedom and oppression, light and shadow, hope and loss—an elegy for a world torn by violence.
In a rare interview featured in Iran’s Vaz-e Donya Poetry Journal, Parnia shared how deeply poetry shaped her life:
“I look at everything in my life in a way that allows me to write about it. Writing brings me peace, even if it is just a little every night.”
Despite balancing work and university, Parnia devoted herself to poetry workshops, cherishing the community and expression that poetry offered her.
Her death is not just a loss to her family and friends but to the world of literature and art.
