Did I dream this book?

[Fanakapan]

I read it in the early 1970s, it was about a girl whose mate's dad (or her own) wrote a poem and buried it in a tin in a desert somewhere.

The story was sad but she dug up the the tin in the end.

The dad buried it in the was, I think he was a soldier.

It's becoming an obsession and people now cross the road to avoid telling me they can't remember it.

Anyone?

Nope, doesn't ring any bells. Hope someone else can help.

Thanks! I sometimes think I invented it and I have no idea why it haunts me so much! My mum picked it out for me at the library and I remember the librarian raidjng an eyebrow so maybe not even a child's book.

Raising