To autumn and to the breeze
to the tea of late afternoons
to dew resting on the flesh of flowers
to the fragrance of newly baked bread
and the warm scent of a newborn
to sleep at the edge of dawn
and the river’s welcoming cool
to love and to light and to hope
to pleasure born after suffering
I say no
*
To despair and to nightmare
to the mire of falsehood
to the wandering of souls in purgatory
to tears wrung from grief
to lament beneath a burial-dark sky
to mountain passes of terror
and storms that breed cold
to separation, to death, to pain
to suffering born after pleasure
I say no
*
To the apple and to Eden
to Adam’s love
to the birth of Cain
to Abel’s embrace
to the shame of the killer’s mother
and the tears of the murdered one
to Eve, who was born that night
—who did nothing but weep
and weep
and weep—
I say no
*
O children of Adam
after all these years
no one has thought of Eve
*
I say no
and return
to the womb of creation
Mind Fever
Mahsa Moeen
translated from the Persian by Mahsa Moeen
Listen to an excerpt of the original Persian read by the poet-translator:
Mahsa Moeen’s translation practice is closely linked to her work as a poet. Translating her own writing as well as Persian literary texts, she approaches translation as a creative act that prioritizes rhythm, image, and emotional continuity. Rather than seeking strict equivalence, her translations aim to carry over the interior movement and tonal atmosphere of the original Persian, while allowing the English text to stand independently as a literary work.
She has published poetry and short stories in Persian literary magazines and continues to explore self-translation as a practice shaped by bilingualism, displacement, and the experience of living between languages. Mind Fever, translated by the author, is among her recent works. The poet wrote this piece in November 2025 and translated it into English in December 2025. Asymptote is the first media to publish it.
She has published poetry and short stories in Persian literary magazines and continues to explore self-translation as a practice shaped by bilingualism, displacement, and the experience of living between languages. Mind Fever, translated by the author, is among her recent works. The poet wrote this piece in November 2025 and translated it into English in December 2025. Asymptote is the first media to publish it.
Mahsa Moeen is an Iranian-Canadian poet born and raised in Tehran. She immigrated to Canada in 2009 and lives in Toronto. She is a physician and works as an anesthesiologist in a community hospital. Alongside medicine, literature has been the central passion of her life. She writes poetry and short prose in Persian, and her work has appeared in Persian literary magazines.
Her writing often explores embodiment and dissolution, exile and belonging, and the human desire to return to nature. Mind Fever reflects a rejection of both suffering and pleasure as defining conditions of human existence, and gestures toward a longing to dissolve into the natural world.
