1852

In 1852 the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid the First,
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Knight

of the Garter, grown impatient with the endless

squabbling over the sacred spots of Jerusalem

that, clutching his turban and crying, “Dur!” and

possibly, “Beni yalnız bırakın!” and, “Git buradan!”

to the Jews, the Muslims, Greek Orthodox,

Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, Coptic,

Ethiopian Orthodox, and Syriac Orthodox petitions,

declared that henceforth status quo would reign

in the Holy Land, all rights of possession, lighting,

decorations and hours of worship be frozen

as if time itself had run out like the last grain

of sand from the hourglass, which is why against
the wall of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,

sitting on a cornice of palmettes, propped beneath
an arched window where only pigeons of undeclared

denomination may approach it, is a ladder that

may yet see its bicentennial, proud as a flag,
because no one remembers who put it there.