If I Must Die - Refaat Alareer

On December 7, Palestinian poet and activist Refaat Alareer was killed in a targeted Israeli airstrike that also killed his brother, his sister, and four of her children.He pinned his prophetic last poem,“If I Must Die,” to his Twitter profile on November 1.

Brian Cox reads it aloud:

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

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