A Death in Tobruk

So as Im working on a summary and a bibliography update for 2025, I thought i’d share my latest piece. I was reading about Libya a lot recently - from the old Cyrenaica and Pentapolis period and all the way to the current interim government. I’ll readily admit to not being an expert but the stories I read definitely made me want to write about it.

P.S

It’s about neither Gaddafi, Idris nor the Battle of Tobruk. It’s a bit of everything and a bit unrelated. I picked Tobruk mainly because I love the way it sounds and it fit geographically. Gaddafi died in Sirte while Idris died in exile in Cairo.

-

A Death in Tobruk

There's a violence to the soil here

A whispering hatred in the flying sand

There's nothing to fear here

Nothing to grasp with bleeding, ashen hands

I saw a future once

But it hid and I never saw it again

Horses and camels lay dead here

Their bones dot the endless wastes

Burnt tires and gasoline fumes

In the air, spinning twine, cruel fates

I saw a future once

But it hid and I never saw it again

The far reaches of empire

Another quietly burning fire

I lived as I died

A murderer, a hero - a liberator, a liar

I saw a future once...