The Desert

This was prompted by the current heatwave reaching 35.3C in Jersey, and also thinking about hot places, hence the desert. But the desert is not just a place, it is also a metaphor for a land of lockdown, and isolation. Hence the reference to the "Desert Fathers", those who lived a life of solitude in the desert, and the oasis, because wherever there is a desert, there have also been places of calm for the weary traveller. I thought in particular of that pictured above, the oasis in Southern Tunisia, which I had the good fortune to visit in my late teens. It has springs, and springs in a desert are surely a sign of hope.

My father was driving our rented car, and asked the way of a man walking by the side of the road - he offered to show us the way, and the oasis, if we would drop him home. Home was a multi-generational collection of wooden bungalows, all scrupulously clean and tidy, and where the women dressed my mother in traditional Tunisian clothes. It was wonderful hospitality, and that has always been associated in my mind with that oasis. An oasis is not just a place, it can also be hospitality to the lost traveller.

The Desert

In the desert, air is liquid heat
Searing the lungs, breath is hard
Sand is burning beneath feet
The body wounded, scarred

Enclaves with the desert sand
Monks eke out a meagre life
The spirit with a praying hand
Away from world torn by strife

An oasis means water and shade
Palm trees beckon, rest a while
For this weary traveller prayed
A break from the time of trial

The desert here of faith and doubt
Hope springs in time of drought