Friday evening, on the second night of Hanukkah, some 70 people gathered on Ashland Plaza to hold a vigil for a permanent Gaza cease-fire in the light of newly lit menorah candles. People prayed for peace and a “miracle” to stop the bombs raining down on the people of Palestine. They remember the more than 17,000 Palestinian children, women and men who have died in the two-month conflict as well as the Israelis who died in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

White kites were displayed by the Hanukkah altar to celebrate Refaat Alareer, the acclaimed Palestinian poet and academic who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City earlier in the week. His poem “If I Must Die” is fast becoming a literary anthem for those who pray for peace in Palestine.

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.

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