no Great Schism
Friday prayers or Sunday worship what
ever noise you fill the building with
place remains a pile of stones an earth
quake can bring down
flying buttresses have been run up
god knows the reinforcements behind
ceilings vaulting over visitors
sighted or blind
Church of Holy Wisdom working Mosque
plus museum open outside call
times with drapes & lazer lights to play
find the old queen
wear galoshes Ladies put on scarves
what's the difference old Byzantium's
gone for good no emperors will be crowned
Greek Turk or Roum
twice iconoclasts tore at the walls
Roman Catholics carted off its gold
during quakes the roof keeps falling in
future's on hold
crown a Saxon king of Albion
kick the white man out of Washington
dig Mohicans up & offer them
wigwams & land
Mehmet conquered old Byzantium
fair & square as William did in ten
sixty-six according to the rules
prevalent then
victor's justice true but who can sort
right from wrong when centuries have gone
skipping by in half the time it takes
empires to die
let them pray for only they can say
if it's yay or nay who holds the keys
forces acting on remote control
earthquakes & floods
just one point of order on these prayers
why not let the Christians have a say
after all 'twas they who put up Saint
Sophia's dome
nationalism's not a dirty word
nor's religion but what is absurd's
mixing up the two as though a pair's
ten to the third
Atatürk was right to drag his folks
screaming foul into the modern world
had they kept their Padishah on hold
woe to the fold
lambs of god or mutton dressed as wolves
holy rolling Pentecostal fires
burning in the eyes of Rasputin
other Putin
get me to a sanctuary like Mars
oops another symbol end of wars
specially if it's god they're fighting for
promise no cause
everyone should get the chance to score
highly in the lottery of life
if they've bought a ticket or sold their
cow for a curse
