Indeed, A Great Share
By Ed Codish
January 15, 2004
GAZA (Reuters) - Re'em al-Reyashi, a Palestinian mother of two who killed four Israelis in a suicide bombing Wednesday professed love for her children before launching an attack that she said was meant to turn her body into "deadly shrapnel."
Re'em, I also want to soar
free of the mortal, to penetrate
as man the softest parts and portals.
"I always wanted to be the first woman
to carry out a martyr attack
where parts of my body
can fly all over, she said, smiling.
"That is the only wish I can ask God for."
Re'em in love completely, making love
to all four men. Her blood and body fused
like God and God.
Her children rise and bless Re'em.
Her husband praises her. To each lover
Her soul sings:
"Your heart is pierced
several times so that I penetrate
to your entrails. When I draw me out, you think
I am drawing them out with me
and you leave me completely
afire with a great love for God."
Those who dispatched you, Re'em,
are full of hate. Your woman's body
like pig flesh, like the uncircumcized,
like Zionists, they broke and rendered.
But you were love they sent, Re'em,
and in last song you cried:
"So excessive was the sweetness
caused by this intense pain
that I could never wish to lose it, nor would my soul
be content with anything less.
It is not bodily pain, but spiritual,
though the body has a share in it -
indeed, a great share."
Some of the lines attributed to Re'em al-Reyashi were written by St. Theresa of Avila.
Ed Codish writes on theology and education and is head of the English department at Gann Academy - The New Jewish High School, in Waltham, MA.
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