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

Dr. Refaat was a key source of inspiration and guidance to We Are Not Numbers from its inception in 2014; many WANN writers attended his classes at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he taught comparative literature and creative writing. Dr. Refaat provided training sessions to several cohorts of WANN writers before he was killed by an Israeli airstrike on December 9, 2023. This poem inspired WANN’s logo, introduced in 2024. Read tributes to Dr. Refaat.