The Jewel in the Desert by David King

A thousand miles hence, amid a pit of sand,
A fantastic Jewel lies, deep into no-mans land,
At dawn, its faces reflect the morning’s glory,
At dusk it shines, like gems out of stories,
Many dare to travel and seek it,
And whilst many fail, some go on, bit by bit,
It is the desert heart, deep inside the sandy tomb,
The final test for all seekers, a twisty catacomb,
But determination and confidence lead without fail,
And this, my friends, is where I begin my tale.

Ten of us set off, all happy and jolly,
Some did it for fun, no true reason in mind, oh what folly,
Others did it as a challenge, given by others,
Oh if only they’d known, had read more than the covers,
Of us, two had pure and right reasons,
And so, working together, we lasted through the seasons,
We neared our goal; the end was in sight,
But here we broke down; we ended up in a fight,
Who would be the one to claim the Jewel we had found?
And so who would be well renowned?

We split up, each going on alone,
Each happy to brave the unknown,
Two days hence I found him lying,
His skin bright red, he was dying,
I sat with him, distraught at just how far we’d split,
I buried him that night, when, with stars the night was lit,
I carried on alone, my friends’ death a burden,
Memories of happy days sat in a garden,
Became my motivation, this I would not fail in,
He watched over me, the travel his only sin.

And this, my friend is where my tale shall end,
And our weary way we must wend,
Oh, what’s that, you want the ending of the race,
Well, you see my friend, there’s no prize for second place,
All the torment that I suffered, the pain I endured,
Were all for nought, the news I heard,
The day I sat with my friend as he slipped away,
Gave another a lead of half a day,
However, I wouldn’t change it for the world, never,
For, to me, Friendship is the greatest thing ever.