Safia Milad - poem
Moderator 
Biography of Safia Milad
Safia Milad-poet, writer, and journalist from the land of sun and fire-is a distinguished and creative woman whose presence across diverse cultural and media spheres has been both lasting and influential. She is regarded as one of the innovative voices of contemporary Afghan literature. Skilled in various classical and modern Persian poetic forms-including ghazal, masnavi, ruba‘i, do-bayti, short-form poetry, and free verse-her deepest artistic commitment lies in the ghazal and modern free verse characterized by vivid imagery and a contemporary language.
More than thirty of her poems have been adapted into songs and performed by different artists, reflecting the deep connection between her poetry, music, and collective emotion.
Safia Milad holds higher education degrees in Law and Political Science, as well as Journalism. She entered the Faculty of Law and Political Science in 2009 and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 2012. Her first poem received a cultural award from the Imam Mohammad Ghazali Foundation, marking the beginning of her literary recognition, after which her works were published in prominent Afghan newspapers and journals.
After three years of professional activity with Pajhwok News Agency, she went on to found the independent “Roz” News Agency through her strong leadership and vision, becoming the first woman to head a news agency in Afghanistan-an achievement that was recognized by both national and international media.
She is the recipient of the Seyed Jamaluddin Afghan Award from the South Asian Journalists Association at the Embassy of Canada, as well as the Best Poetry Award (2022) presented by the Afghan Women’s Freedom Movement in the United States.
Alongside her literary and media activities, Safia Milad serves as the coordinator of “Poetry of Nations” and has issued several honorary diplomas signed by her name in Iran and Tajikistan. Her latest patriotic poetry collection, edited by Hamid Reza Shorveh, is scheduled for publication in Tajikistan.
Safia Milad is a luminous voice among the new generation of Afghan women-an artist who has opened pathways of expression, awakening, and beauty through words, imagery, and resistance.
She is also a member of the Policy Council of the International Liraw Persian-Speaking Literary Award, as well as the Persian Literary Magazine Liraw
I was a wave,
risen from the shoreless vastness of the sea.
I had no name
no shore,
no boundary.
I went
into the trembling nights of water
into the hollow silence of the moon,
and slowly broke
without anyone
hearing the sound of my falling.
You said, It is over...
but I was not over.
I poured myself into the body of rain,
I sprouted in the fever of wheat,
I fell into the eye of a sparrow
that slipped from your branch.
I am still
even if I am no longer a wave
now
I have become
the sea itself
A tree
stands in the middle of the garden
not out of strength,
but out of longing.
It is alone.
Yet the sound of sparrows
among its branches
smells like home.
Rain
passes over its wounds,
soft and calm,
the way you
pass through my memory.
A cloud has kissed its forehead,
and every drop
whispers your name
into the ears of the leaves.
But I
sit in its shade
with a damp lump in my throat
and a distant thought
that if the rain had not fallen…
Prepared for publication by Angela Kosta, Editor
