Palestinian Media Watch (www.pmw.org.il), under the direction of Itamar Marcus, has provided a translation of an poetic ode, “A letter From a Shahid to His Mother”, by Abdul Badi Iraq. It appeared in the literature section of the February 27 edition of al-Hayat al-Jadida, the official Palestinian Authority daily:



“My Dear Mother,

...I wrapped my body with determination, with hopes and with bombs.

I asked [reaching] towards Allah and the fighting homeland.

The [explosive] belt makes me fly, strengthens me to make haste.

I calm it [the explosive], we should stay steadfast, we have not yet reached.

I freed/launched myself; I freed/launched myself, [detonated myself] like lava burning old legends and vanity,

I freed/launched my body, all my pains and oppression, towards the packs of beasts...

I freed/launched, oh mother, freed the chains and the shackles.



And you found me rising and rising like a candle that was lit with precious olive oil.

And you saw me sending a loving kiss above the mosques and the churches, the houses and the roads.

Flocks of pigeons flew above the porches

And Al-Aksa smiled and gave me a sign that we will not sleep.



Dawn is close, oh mother, and it shall rise from the guns, from the shining spears

It will be lit from a bloody wound...

The wedding is the wedding of the land.

Sound a cry of joy, oh mother, I am the groom...”

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