In Mesopotamia

The narrative opens aboard a British vessel navigating the murky waters of the Shatt‑el‑Arab at the dawn of World War I. A handful of soldiers and sailors, half‑lost in the heat of the Persian Gulf, watch the horizon for any sign of the legendary Garden of Eden, only to find a pragmatic scene of steamers, fishing boats and the clatter of cargo being off‑loaded. Their limited knowledge of the region makes every sight—from the yellow line of the river’s mouth to the distant sails—feel like a discovery. Yet the real purpose of the mission, transporting a mobile hospital, looms over the uneasy silence.

As the ship pushes upriver, the crew is greeted by endless rows of palm trees, mud‑brick dwellings and the massive circular tanks of the Anglo‑Persian Oil Company that dominate the landscape. The contrast between the lush, irrigated plains and the scarred Turkish trenches hints at a conflict already shaping the land. Through the narrator’s eyes, listeners get a vivid portrait of a world on the brink—where geography, industry, and war intersect in a tense, yet awe‑inspiring arrival.