Arno Babadjanian: Élégie
Piano: Nina Barzegar, 2021

On January 8, 2020, 176 passengers of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752/AUI752), en route from Tehran to Canada, were killed by missiles fired by the Iranian government in a tragic, irrevocable mistake. The flight was shot down amid heightened tensions between Iran and the United States, with the Iranian military mistakenly identifying the commercial airliner as a threat. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we could not organize any events to commemorate them, so I played the piece Elegy by Arno Babajanian in solitude, in commemoration of the victims on the anniversary of their passing. I wrote this poem as an expression of grief and remembrance.

That ominous moment
That cursed moment
When time stood still
In shock, in choking grief, in endless pain—
What befell you?
And what befalls us As we gaze into your life-filled eyes
Frozen in frames of longing,
Smiles turned to blood In the hellish embodiment of that evil error,
Your share of dreams and life: demise In the dark and dreadful game of madmen.
And the flag of war is still held by man—
Continuing to claim victims After you
And after us.

آن لحظه‌ی نحس
آنجا که زمان ایستاد
در بُهت، بغض و دردی بی‌پایان
چه گذشت بر شما؟
چه می‌گذرد بر ما
از تماشای نگاه پُر از زندگی‌تان
در قاب عکس‌های
حسرت لبخندهایی که خون شد
در تجسم شرارت خطای شیطانی
و سهم شما از آرزوها و زندگی، تباهی
در بازی سیاه و دهشتبار دیوانگان
و پرچم جنگ در دست آدمی‌ست هنوز
و قربانی می‌گیرد
بعد از شما
و بعد از ما نیز