From England to the muddy Nile
Where sunbeams greet the Sphinx's smile
From there to join the rank and file.
On Libya's Sand
By limpid ocean's blue
Where vegetation never grew
On past ruined Mersa-Matruh.
On Libya's Sand
From burning sun no welcome shade
Scorched, unwashed, unkempt, dismayed
Oh! water, where's thy cooling aid.
On Libya's Sand
Biscuits, Bully Beef and tea
A nauseating memory
But quite an appetizing three
On Libya's Sand
Hanging on by hair and teeth
In battered trucks that bounce beneath
Loose your hold and come to grief.
On Libya's Sand
Oh! Watch that deadly scorpion's bite
That joined tail, or quick as light
He'll taint you with his venomed spit.
On Libya's sand
Bombers swooping on their pray
Hurtle down the power to slay
Shattering bombs and cannon spray
On Libya's Sand
Ever whistling through the air
Shells that end this life's affair
To dig in ditch and shiver there
On Libya's Sand
Nightly as some parted soul
Lying in an oblong hole
Burrowed like the timorous mole.
On Libya's Sand
As the moon begins to wain
By light of plane the weary brain
Waits the dreaded Hooker plane.
On Libya's sand
If blessed sleep shall come at last
‘Tis but to wake to crash and blast
A German raider's roaring past
O'er Libya's Sand
Oh! death, destruction, devastation
Endless, empty desolation
Life to me's no jubilation
On Libya's Sand
For wife in England, miles away
Each night on stoney bed I'll pray
God send me back far far away
From Libya's Sand
Oh! you who mourn life's cruel blows.
Yet driving well find sweet repose
But pause a while and think of those.
On Libya's Sand
Lawrence F. Fearby
07/10/1942
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem