(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
If I must die...let it bring hope ! [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-12-20
If I must die, let it be a tale
If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself—
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up
above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale
This poem was penned by Prof. Refaat Alareer, who was a professor of English literature at the Islamic University of Gaza. He was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Please follow the Palestine Festival of Literature, and please listen to this reading of “If I must die” penned a Gazan. On my part, I am making a deliberate effort to follow every Gazan artist/author I can find because I suspect (don’t know for sure) that Israel appears to be targeting Gazan culture/literary resources.
x Brian Cox reads If I Must Die, by beloved Palestinian poet, teacher and martyr Refaat Alareer.
Refaat was killed on December 7th by an Israeli airstrike.
This was the last poem he published. pic.twitter.com/sMVocn3nGA — Palestine Festival of Literature (@PalFest) December 12, 2023
There is some controversy surrounding the death of Refaat Alareer. Someone will bring it up in the comments, so I am going to highlight it here.
Refaat Alareer was killed by an Israeli airstrike that appears to have been targeted ~ the bomb picked out the house he was sleeping in within a complex. The bomb also killed his sister, his brother and 4 kids. 3 adults and 4 kids were killed. For a few days prior to this airstrike, Refaat Alareer was sleeping in a shelter with dozens (or perhaps hundreds) of other Gazans. He started receiving texts that Israel had tracked his location, and he was next. To avoid the collateral deaths of those around him, he went to his sister’s house (this part did not make sense to me, but this is what he did).
What was his crime? There were several transgressions, but his main crime was that he had put out a tweet mocking Israeli propaganda around the “babies in oven story”. I will not link to his tweet...personally, I thought that tweet was unwise. The noted journalist Bari Weiss took strong objection to his mockery, and highlighted it for the world; and apparently put him on the Israeli crosshairs.
The poem being read above is from something he penned at the shelter, and was apparently written after he knew his days were numbered.
x "If I must die, you must live, to tell my story..
If I must die,Let it bring hope! Let it be a tale!"
The words of the martyr Refaat Alareer written on wall of a shelter center for the displaced people in the City of #Rafah. pic.twitter.com/FvltMbbF4n — Birzeit University (@BirzeitU) December 20, 2023
The students at CUNY have compiled some of his other works, and have also written up a more complete description. You can find it in the link at this tweet, and I encourage you to read it.
x As part of our tribute to Refaat Alareer on Friday, English PhD students at the CUNY Grad Center put together a booklet of Dr. Alareer's writing among other items. Please circulate and use as you may need.
https://t.co/Y4V9EH5jKT — Sandra GL (@snafragl) December 18, 2023
Some of his other poems are also quite moving, but paint a darker picture of human nature. I will not copy those (you can find them all in the link above) because I want to focus on the hope/optimism around his “If I die” poem.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/20/2212943/-If-I-must-die-let-it-bring-hope?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
