That ravishing beauty of hers:
Zion, Lavinia, Philomela, the concubine of Gibeah,
Even as she lay slaughtered, hacked into twelve pieces
Still it lived on in her, swooning, bleeding through -
Her consummate beauty.
After the terrorist attack on Gaza Road in January of 2004
Michal Govrin, from: And So Said Jerusalem, Poems and Hymns
Translated from the Hebrew by: Betsy Rosenberg
*Translation sponsored by the "Museum On The seam", Jerusalem
* (From Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, Act 3 Scene IV)
“ Enter the Empress' sons, Demetrius and Chiron, with Lavinia, Her hands cut off, and her tongue cut out, and ravished Dem.: So, now go tell, an if thy tongue can speak
Who 'twas that cut thy tongue and ravished thee. Chi.: Write down thy mind, between thy meaning so
As if thy stumps will let thee play the scribe. Dem.: See how with signs and tokens she can scrowl. Chi.: Go home, call for sweet water, wash thy hands. Dem.: She hath no tongue to call, nor hands to wash;
And so let's leave her to her silent walk. Chi.: An 'twere my cause, I should go hang myself. Dem.: If thou hadst hands to help thee knit the cord."