Qatar

War is rumour, War raises prices
where we are, while countries get shot up.
Qatar a target, what a surprise,
long accused of being Iran’s pup,

yet now in its firing line, the Lebanon
of the Gulf. This is war by Fuehrercide,
having started during Ramadan;
iftar in sackcloth and ashes this Eid.

There will be no Nuremberg or Flensburg
for the regime. Hormuz is the centre
of the world, just as Camoes urged
in his Elegia, and Milton entered

the wealth of Ormus in Paradise Lost.
Grey and red Qatar Airway’s terminus.

Woodford Halse - 20 March 2026

Luis de Camoes’ 3rd Elegia, that is.

Qatar was a Portuguese possession and tributary in the 16th and first half of the 17th century.