They say that a preacher's daughter
is the most rebellious, immoral.
Daddy raised me to be a good girl.
To believe in God and to be wholesome.
I grew up in a strict household.
Don't make the preacher look bad.
Well, I stopped believing in god,
and I broke under the pressure
of the high moral standards.
The preacher doesn't take kindly
to his little girl forsaking his god.
The preacher's daughter
isn't so chaste anymore.

i am seaglass
collect me along the shore
i am once jagged edges
now dulled by time and salt
wounds full of salt
i have forgotten what sweet is
foggy clouded
clarity lost for the sake of beauty
i am discarded
collect me along the shore
i am scattered in pieces
that no longer fit together
curves and waves
i am tough i am smooth
i have lived my life in rough waters
water and rock
have rearranged my shape
i am under your feet
collect me along the shore

Put me to your lips and inhale
Taste me on your tongue
Before you force me out
In a puff of smoke
Watch me disappear into the air
As I swirl around you
Bring me back in
For round two

Sometimes,
I wish to make a statue
out of me.
And I mean it literary.
Take a knife
and make curves
how I want them to be right.
And cut out
all parts I don't want.
With precision
cut the skin, the flesh,
the need for perfection
desire to bleed.
I will be an artist,
body the masterpiece.

Well,
people never ask about what I love,
what I hate,
It seems that "I" have to fade
it seems that "I" is not important
because "I" is Palestinian.

I'm not allowed to work,
I'm not allowed to get proper education,
I'm not allowed to talk,
I'm not allowed to speak of liberation.

They call me a refugee,
but, dear, I am a slave.

I'm not a terrorist
I'm not blinded by religion
I'm not blinded by traditions
I'm only human
I have no liberty
because of my nationality.

You, who call our for human rights,
Am I not human?
Am I not a victim of insignificant fights?

Well,
All I know is that I'm alive,
I exist.

So keep your prejudiced selves away from me,
and let me be,
let me be free.

I am only a human
a human
I have a beating heart
I love art
I have ambitions
and dreams
stop shattering me
because of a nationality.

There were times when my mother and I barely had food to eat.
Locked in a room, waiting for a sunshine. Victims of abuse.
There were times when I slept hungry.
Emotionally and physically hungry.
Those times are long gone,
some scars cannot be undone.
Ugly bruises mark you, mark you as the prey.
When in reality,
You are the hunter.