Let It Be a Tale

Let It Be At Tale | 24″ x 36″ Oil on canvas | $780.00

Let It Be a Tale was painted as a dedication (with much love and respect) to both author, poet and educator, Dr. Refaat Alareer and to the children of Gaza. Please read about them below.

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 story.

Refaat Alareer 2023

Dr. Refaat Alareer

Refaat Alareer was born 23 September 1979 in Shuja’iyya in Gaza City. He was killed in a targeted hit on December 6th, 2023, by an Israeli airstrike, along with his brother, sister and their children.

Alareer was a renowned Palestinian Poet, activist and Professor of English Literature & Creative Writing at the now destroyed Islamic University of Gaza. He was one of the co-founders of the “We are not numbers” project, and was also the editor of Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza

Just five weeks prior to his assassination, Alareer shared his poem titled “If I Must Die (Let It Be a Tale)”. He wrote this poem for his eldest daughter and accomplished Palestinian illustrator, Shaimaan.

As Gaza keeps gasping for life, we struggle for it to pass, we have no choice but to fight back and tell her stories. For Palestine.

Alareer wrote in his contribution in the volume ‘Light in Gaza: Writing Born of Fire’

After I began this painting, on April 26, 2024 Shaimaa Refaat Alareer was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Shaimaa died alongside her husband Mohammed Siyam, and their newborn baby. Their deaths took place just five months after Refaat, in the home where they were sheltering, west of Gaza City.

Before she was killed, Shaimaa wrote a Facebook post dedicated to her deceased father. It read:

… Do you know, O father, that you have become a grandfather? This is your grandson Abd al-Rahman whom I have long imagined you carrying, but I never imagined that I would lose you early even before you see him.

Shaimaa Alareer

Kids and Kites in Gaza

The kite is free, and I’m not. So, I fly it with a very thin thread just between me and it. This thread, just makes me feel that I will be free one day … It’s free, I’m not. But I will be free.

Child in Gaza

Flying kites made from scraps they salvage in the crowded camps, the children of the Gaza Strip forget the war for a few moments. This simple handmade toy brings them moments of joy in the midst of displacement, hunger and death. Throughout the rubble, the makeshift tents, and lines of Palestinians searching for food, water and firewood these children find some respite.

On top of the smoke and the noise of drones and bombardment, you would see children making kites and flying kites. Hundreds of them.

Mohsin Mohi-Ud-Din (founder of #MeWe International Inc. & volunteer with MedGlobal)

• Resources Link to Kathryn's Art Blog page Resources and Mutual Aid for Palestine here: https://artblog.kathrynkaiser.ca/resources-and-mutual-aid/ Find out more about the crisis and how you can help.