You embraced them! And now you come, The Captain,
Every vein
Stiff with adrenaline, The touch of Palestine On your uniform,
And offer me your arm. I would spit on you
But my mouth is dry.
I have no spit
And no tears yet.
The whole time I thought He was all right,
Below decks somewhere Being cared for.
We heard them fire.
It didn't register.
And Leon Klinghoffer, My husband,
My best friend,
Is killed by a punk While I think
Of this and that, Hearing the shot, Discounting it, Looking at the sky, Chatting idly.
Why didn't I know?
Oh God, with all the pain Of hands, of feet, of skin, Of the intestine,
Of liver and spleen,
And heart, and brain,
Of every organ,
And nerve and bone,
Of muscle and tendon, Of the womb
And the spinal column That I have borne,
Why nothing then
Of what Leon
Had endured,
What he suffered
Before they fired?
He would resist.
I can't recall the last
Sight I had of him.
We used to sit at home Together at night
When the children were out. I wouldn't glance up
From the book on my lap For hours at a time,
And yet it was the same As if I had gazed at him
I knew his face so well, His beautiful smile.
I have only a short Time. What can part Us while I live?
He lives in me. I grieve As a pregnant woman Grieves for the unseen Long imagined son. Suffering is certain.
The remembered man Rising from my heart Into the world to come, It is he whom
The Lord will redeem When I am dead.
I should have died.
If a hundred
People were murdered And their blood Flowed in the wake Of this ship like
Oil, only then
Would the world intervene.
They should have killed me. I wanted to die.

INVIA LE CORREZIONI