Stones of Jerusalem

from Reverie by David Wilcox

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lyrics

Sultan Suleiman restacked the walls again
Malik-al-Muattam had destroyed
Before him was Saladin who captured Jerusalem
From the Crusaders who won it in war

But before the Crusaders, the stones had been made into
Mosques that were made from old stones
Those stones were Queen Helena’s picked up from Hadrian
Long after Herod was gone.

This building before you is not what I am
This building is something I do
I stand like a wave in a fast moving river
I stand for the story that’s moving through
Building is a verb, even more than a noun
Stacking us up; Tearing us down
Cut from the quarrys in sacred ground
We are the stones of this town

King David and Solomon give way to Babylon
That falls to the Persians ‘till the Greeks take control
Then come the Maccabees who rule in Jerusalem
‘Till general Pompey takes it for Rome.

Herod and Pilate, and Titus and Hadrian
Helena, Constantine, Persians and Byzantines,
Muslims, Crusaders, Kurds under Saladin,
Then Mamluk Sultans from Egypt come
They rule here for centurys up to the Ottomans
Whose empire remains until world war one

This building before you is not what I am
This building is something I do
I stand like a wave in a fast moving river
I stand for the story that’s moving through
Building is a verb, even more than a noun
Stacking us up; Tearing us down
Cut from the quarrys in sacred ground
We are the stones of this town

credits

from Reverie, released November 23, 2010

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David Wilcox Asheville, North Carolina

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