Lonesome Tree of Ténéré

Amidst the wild waste of the Sahara’s sands

Stood a resilient lonesome tree.

Such fame did the Tree of Ténéré command

That round and about it was declared

The most isolated soul in the whole wide world

And men from all over came to the lonely spot

To marvel and offer some company.

Alas this would be the tree’s undoing

For one day a lonely visitor in a drunken stupor

Drove into the tree and brought to an end

Its lonesome vigil over the desert’s expanse

That had lasted three hundred agonising years.

In the tree’s place now stands a metallic monstrosity

That knows not the heat of the desert sun

Nor the beauty of stars on cold cloudless nights.

Men still visit the spot to mourn the tree and to find

Some comfort in each other’s company.