Thoughts Upon the Desert

Lin Rowell served in the Desert Campaigns of North Africa during WW2 with 'A' Troop, 27 Battery, New Zealand Artillery.

Sand-bound and sand-girt,
Sandstone its sod.
Who made the desert?
Surely not God
But somebody made it
And painted its tones,
Spread it and sprayed it
And scattered its stones.
Somebody plucked it
Of plant and of frond.
Somebody sucked it
Of stream and of pond.
Or was it born naked
And scorched to the core?
Barren and baked
Flaked and forlorn?
But let us not quibble
Or argue or guess,
Lay the blame on the devil
And let him confess.
For arid its acres and stony its shell,
It is not our Maker's this sample of hell.

Lin Rowell, 'A' Troop, 27 Battery, NZA

Another poem by Lin Rowell