The bride turned toward them. A sad dignity clothed her features. “Draw near, cowards,” she shouted. “You need not fear the ghost of death, for it is great and will not come near your pettiness. Come close. You do not have to tremble in fear of this dagger. It is a sanctified instrument that will not touch your filthy bodies and dark breasts. Look at this handsome young man, dressed for the wedding. He is my lover. I killed him because he is my lover. He is my husband, and I am his bride. We searched but could find no bridal bed worthy of our embrace in this world, which you have made so narrow by your customs, so dark by your ignorance, so corrupt by your lust. We have preferred to go somewhere beyond the clouds. Come near and look, you weak and frightened people. Perhaps you will see the face of God reflected on our faces and hear His sweet voice pouring out of our hearts. Where is she, that wicked and jealous woman, who slandered my lover to me? She said that he had conceived a passion for her and had forgotten me, that he had given his love to her in order to forget me. That wicked woman imagined that she had triumphed when the priest raised his hand above my head and the head of her kinsman. Where is the deceitful Najeeba? Where is that hellish viper? Let her come and see that she has gathered you to celebrate the wedding of my lover, not the wedding of the man she chose for me.

“You do not understand what I say, for the depths of the sea cannot contain the planets’ songs, but you will tell your children of the woman who killed her lover on her wedding night. You will remember me, and you will curse me with your sinful lips, but your descendents will bless me, for tomorrow will belong to truth and the spirit.

“And you, the foolish man who used deceit, wealth, and malice to make me his wife—you are the symbol of this wretched nation that seeks light in darkness, that sits waiting for water to gush from the rock and for roses to appear on the thorn bush. You are the symbol of this country, which in blind folly has surrendered to a blind leader. You are the representative of the false manhood that cuts off a head or a hand to steal a necklace or a bracelet. I forgive you your pettiness, for the soul rejoicing in departing this world forgives all the sins of this world.”