Refaat Alareer 1979-2023

 

Rise! Rise!
No matter how neglectful you are,
You will remain in my eyes and flesh an angel.
And you remain as our love wants you to be:
Your breeze is amber, 
Your land bliss— 
And I love you more. 
Your hands are trees
But I do not sing
Like other nightingales.
The chains teach me to fight and fight,
Because I love you more. 
My singing is daggers of roses,
My silence the birth of thunder,
And a lily of my own blood.
You are the soil and the sky
And your heart is evergreen.
Your love when at a low ebb is a flow; 
How, then, can I not love you more?
And you are as our love wants you to be:
I am your beloved child;
On your sweet lap
I grow, and rise.

 

(Mahmoud Darwish, I Love You More,  translated by Refaat Alareer "with the help of Ghada Ahmed, Sarah Ali, Hanan Habashi and the amazing Mohamed Shamaa)"

“If I must die, you must live, to tell my story.”

- @itranslate123 pic.twitter.com/ZHld8ZPWLy

— Yasser (@Yasser_Gaza) December 9, 2023