Incense branches hiss and crackle;
their fragrant smoke recalls a pine forest,
some prayer-worn altar. Voices dissolve
into the desert night. I gaze into flames
that lick, circle and sparkler the darkness, revealing
an ancient river that pulses beneath the Fortress of Ravens,
snakes across Qana's pearl-white beach;
a thousand camels carry their precious, pungent load
through sand-drifted streets in Shabwah
around the Empty Quarter; great blank of Arabia.

The mud-brick towers of Shibam beckon
beyond the palm trees. Granite hills smudge
dark, low clouds. Ghost towns mark the caravan's way;
Haribat, Al Jubah, Al Masajid. Lightening answers
Ilumquh's bellow. Inside the bull-god's temple,
crescent horns mirror the moon's mute curve,
city walls shelter the camel-train in a lover's embrace.
Far beyond the heart of Marib King Solomon releases a rainbow-bird
to summon Sheba's queen. She answers his call; baharat, cinnabar,

cassia, saffron and sweet-rush flood in her wake.
The silent beasts bear their burden of dreams;
amber promise of healing and transcendence.
Bir Hima; dromedaries, date harvests, ibexes,
hunters and dancers, embers of traveller's lives
carved in the sandstone walls. Yathrib,
oasis town, vibrant with the hubbub
of trade. Gold jewellery dazzles and veiled women
twist through tortuous streets. The pale-robed
travellers feast on fruit, lay their scimitars
beside them, rest amongst the shadows.

Journeying through the cool night
they slake their thirst where Moses
induced the sacred spring which streams
towards Petra; the pull of Rome
inexorable. Up ahead in a glimmering, rosy dawn
stands a magic façade, hewn from wine-coloured rock;
The Nabataean treasury; conjured by Egyptian sorcerers.

A malevolent djinn swirls up
and smothers the flames of our campfire.
My vision evaporates into tendrils of smoke.
Modern servants of restlessness,
we move on as a new day breaks.
A sand storm soon disguises our wheel-tracks;
only the cold ashes recall our presence.
A good traveller leaves no clue to his camp
although deep beneath the sand may linger,
the delicate, ravishing scent of the fabled resin.