My inspiration for this poem came after encountering so many people who try to impose their opinions and thoughts on others. They try to silence my own voice with their traditions and assumptions, battling in the arena of my mind and making it difficult to decide what I want. I keep asking myself, "To be or not to be?" Yet, despite their attempted interventions, I will be!

She battled in that arena,
so familiar to every young soul,
where parents, relatives, traditions
fight over her crown,
trying to conquer her thoughts
and silence her voice.

How could she fight back?
How could she flee?
Would she grow horns or wings?

She wanted revenge.
She wanted to forgive.
She wanted to forget the fight
and walk through Gaza freely.

Their feelings clashed with her own;
their voices tried to drown hers out.
It is her blood they risked spilling,
her soul they risked losing.

She screamed for it to stop.
She found her voice—
better lost blood
than lost soul, she said.