“If I must die, let it be a tale” – Dr Refaat Al-Areer’s poem translated into hundreds of languages in spontaneous global solidarity

December 11, 2023

312

feature Image — A graffiti of Dr Refaat Al-Areer’s poem at a New York Subway station, credit: @fatimazsaid on X

Radiance News

Dec. 11: Dr Refaat al-Areer, professor, poet, writer and social activist was martyred by Israeli airstrikes earlier this week along with his family. After he received a call from the IDF, he moved to his sister’s home to avoid the school where he was sheltering from being targeted. Eventually, his sister’s apartment was bombed. He, his sister Asmaa, and Asmaa’s four daughters are still under the rubble from December 7^th, as there is a lack of heavy equipment and fuel to remove the bodies. His poem, If I Must Die, became widely-read after his death.

On X, the poem found new lives as hundreds of users began to translate the poem into their mother tongues. On the thread, there are languages as diverse as Gaelic, Punjabi, Dutch, Yiddish and Urdu. There are multiple translations of the poem into popular languages like Urdu, Arabic, French and Bengali. Here are some translations of only the Indian language versions, as taken from X with credit to the translators.

For the full thread which includes other Indian language translations, and foreign languages, check: https://twitter.com/blkpaws/status/1732954318657974669