Salman Harati

Culture and Art

638
20 October 2021

Salman Harati was born to a religious family in the village of Marzdasht, Tonekabon (Mazandaran province, northern Iran) in 1959. He completed his elementary school years in the village. Salman became acquainted with and fond of reading and writing in his early teens. Due to poverty, Salman worked as a footboy from his early adolescence or went shepherding with the local shepherds (the galesh). In this way, he became familiar with folk songs. He turned to writing from the year 1973 and experienced composing poetry. In 1983, he earned his Associate of Arts degree and immediately began teaching in the villages of Tonekabon.

Salman had an inseparable bond with “committed” poetry and for this very reason, his works are full of sincerity, honesty, and simplicity which distinguish his works from the poetry of his contemporaries.

Three collections of poetry by Salman Harati have been published which are titled “From this Star to that Star,” “From the Green Sky,” and “A Door to the Sun’s House.”

Salman Harati died in a car accident on his way to school in October 1986.

You, Like A Star

You, like a star

Were full of freshness and light

And in your hand was a ring of love

And pure like a tree

That has returned from the forest of cloud

Your beginning

Overflowed with purity like a bud

The earth guessed your brightness

It was you, the air scattered brightness

And I