NORTH AFRICA

  

Iraq 1942 (from Basra).
Memories of "The Garden of Eden!"
Kurna (Al-Qurna?).
A filthy little village, where the Euphrates joins the Tigris.
Oil seeps through the filthy mud.
Jaundice, fleas, mosquitos.
Arabs that hate us, as we despise them.
The enervating heat of day,
and the bitter cold of night.
Foul smelling camels -
scorpions that give sport by sprinkling a ring of petrol around them,
and watching them bite themselves to death in the blazing arena.
I've tried to solve a riddle,
if you wish to know it - well,
if Kurna is the Garden of Eden,
then where the fuck is Hell!