Desert Fortress, Saudi Arabia



Who would have thought of building
a mud-walled fortress here,
in this bleak stretch of desert?
You could be anywhere.

Who were the loyal soldiers
who guarded, in such heat,
this empty piece of nowhere?
Was this their last retreat,

or was this for them the frontier
where they hoped to keep out
another wilderness? Unmapped.
Silence. Distance. Doubt.

Tom Vaughan

If you have any thoughts on this poem,  Tom Vaughan  would be pleased to hear them.