How can I sleep? 

How can I dare to close my eyes and put my soul at ease? 

Why am I allowed to dream? 

What have I done to deserve this opportunity  

to take myself away from reality 

and just rest? 

to allow my heart to beat easy within my breast 

to feel warm and safe inside my nest 

my nest....my nest 

my nest of hypocrisy and hatred, 

an Eagle made it 

she flew over the world and blocked out the sun, 

swearing she was protecting everyone from its rays 

when in reality her shade, was nothing more than a charade 

an Eagle built my nest 

she flew into the most beautiful lands she could find and 

stole not the branches, but the roots of the trees, leaving behind 

desolate, generations of third world countries 

all while humming, "the home of the brave. land of the free" 

and she piled these uprooted brown treasures under my feet 

an Eagle built my nest 

she said, these sticks need to be cleaner, more pure and right,  

she painted them white 

an Eagle built my nest 

"These sticks need to be more secure," she declared  

and before I could share my unshared views, 

"War!" she declared 

"Terrorism, drugs," 

"the best way to stick these sticks together is with blood" 

So the Eagle declared war under the name of love. 

an Eagle built my nest. 

I ask you once more, 

How can I sleep? 

How can I dare to close my eyes and put my soul at ease? 

Why am I allowed to dream? 

What have I done to be gifted with this escape? 

am I human, while the children of Gaza have become ape? 

Have the Burmese changed species 

and therefore lost their human rights? 

The children of Syria no longer fly kites-- 

correction; there are no more children left in Syria to fly kites. 

Their own government is killing them one by one, peace is not in sight. 

yet I have the audacity to feel safe at night 

An Eagle built my nest 

She told me I was blessed. 

blessed. 

I am so blessed that I don't even feel the need 

 to say my prayers before falling asleep 

I hold myself almost immortal 

in high esteem 

there's no need for me to dream, I mean, 

what more is there for me to see? 

I feel like life for me,  

life for me is guaranteed. 

I will wake up tomorrow 

and the day that follows 

as if this body of clay is mine, not borrowed 

I feel so safe in this nest 

in this tree, the highest in the forest 

nothing is above me! 

Is this how the thoughts of the blessed should be? 

An eagle built my nest.. 

but who, who built the Eagle? 

The Eagle once said it was me 

for the people, by the people, a democracy. 

but the wise, the wise say there's an entity 

that we will all meet very soon. 

so powerful, all he says is, "Be." 

"kun," faiya kun. 

"Be." and it is 

Be, and it is no more. 

I may be on top of the world, 

but he is the one who created the core 

and everything between it and the surface 

and everything was built perfect,  

everything, with a purpose. 

Remember that sun the Eagle blocked out? 

Well, the Eagle is a creature who needs rest just like I, 

and today, she was knocked out. 

So I lifted my eyes and to my surprise 

the sun, the sun is brighter than I ever expected 

and everything the light touches, knowledge is reflected 

ignorance rejected,  

illuminating my mind, changing my perspective. 

clearing up misconceptions. 

and in this light, 

In this light, I glance at the sleeping bird 

and to my dismay 

where the Eagle once was, a vulture lay. 

A vulture 

devourer of culture 

a soldier 

and I, a prisoner of war 

my nest a home no more 

with bars--there're guards posted outside my door! 

the wise, they call the sunlight "noor" 

the light of the righteous. 

they say, if you pray five times a day 

you might just 

you might just understand  

why we must take a stand 

against the oppressor's hand 

give back stolen land 

put ourselves back in command 

because only a fool, 

only a fool believes the Eagle is anything more than just another man.