if i must die

[desmond dillon]

 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 tail.

Prof. Refaat al-Areer.

december 2023

*

     

[desmond dillon]

 the Prof, a great writer who had spent his life speaking to the world about the plight of Gaza, posted this poem two days ago. Yesterday he was contacted by Isreali intelligence seeking to locate him. He was sheltering in the local school. They told him they were going to kill him so he left to protect the others there..

A few hours later a bomb targeted and destroyed his sisters house and killed him, his brother, his sister and her 4 children.. 

[janice wilson]

very sad situation there ...........................

[Eva Libre]

I find it difficult to like this tragedy...who else understands this?

[janice wilson]

war is a terrible thing people do as we know

we are on earth to learn to live in peace

peace and love , matter more than politics or religion

we humans need to learn this

to respect our humanity first

[janice wilson]

peace to all human beings on earth

[desmond dillon]

 i have striven to process the slaughter in Gaza.. ' a foster child was abused badly in the home that he lived in. he was beaten and starved and locked in a ghetto and then murdered again and again. finally when he grew up the compassion of the neighbours found a room for him in anothers house. then the grown up child began to act in the way that he had been treated when he was a child. he abused his hosts. he beat them and starved them and murdered them again and again and then determined to evict them from their own house.'     

  humanity is one body and when a rash appears on the left arm its inhuman for the right arm to chop the left arm off. Because the whole body may die. it may bleed to death.  humanity must prevail.