10 Days of prayer -(-7) Art & Culture

Heavenly Father, we pray today for peace in our troubled world, thinking particularly of our WDP friends in Palestine and Israel.

“IF I MUST DIE” 

BY REFAAT ALAREER

Refaat Alareer was an author and educator who taught English literature at Gaza’s Islamic University. He was killed in an air strike on December 6th 2023 along with his brother, his brother’s son, his sister and her three children.

As mentioned in today’s Countdown Video he wrote this poem shortly before his death. 

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 story.

Translation by Sinan Antoon


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