Dusk of Exile: Poems of Longing and Light

Born in Tehran and now a member of the Swedish Academy, Jila Mossaed is one of the most distinctive poetic voices of exile and belonging. Having written in both Persian and Swedish, she brings to her Persian poetry a rare perspective on language and loss—illuminating the fragile threshold between silence and speech, home and displacement, memory and renewal.In these radiant translations, drawn from Mossaed’s eleven Persian collections, we enter a world where exile becomes a form of vision. The natural world—wind, sea, stone, and flame—mirrors the inner life of the poet, revealing how loss can sharpen perception and how solitude can become a dwelling place. Mossaed’s poetry moves through tenderness and clarity, sorrow and radiance, until longing itself becomes a kind of home.Mojdeh Bahar’s faithful and lyrical translations bring this extraordinary body of work into English for the first time, allowing readers to encounter a voice that bridges cultures, histories, and languages.The Dusk of Exile is a book about the endurance of the human spirit—an intimate and timeless testament to how poetry can transform displacement into light.Editorial Reviews“These poems are intensely personal, and the individual authenticity of their cry cannot be doubted, but in a time of so many diasporas, exiles, displaced persons, refugees, they convey the often unspoken experience of millions of our contemporaries. Mojdeh Bahar’s translations are beautifully and meticulously transparent to their Persian originals.”Dick Davis, poet and translator of Shahnameh"The Dusk of Exile is a wonderful read. Jila Mossae's poetry is deeply universal; inspiring us humans to reflect on our own transient and precarious sense of belonging."Fathali M. Moghaddam, Professor of Psychology, Georgetown University Read more