The planet's red, <br />And very dead; <br />It's air so thin <br />It's barely there. <br />The nights are cold <br />And so's the day; <br />Yet howling storms <br />Sometimes unfold <br />And blow the dust away. <br /> <br />An empire's ransom has been spent <br />Exploring this strange land; <br />In spite of which it still remains <br />Untouched by human hand. <br />We cannot go to Mars ourselves, <br />The rays which fill the void between <br />Pose too much risk to health. <br />In any case it seems like Hell, <br />I'd rather visit Ingoldmells. <br /> <br />Our robots traverse its cratered realm <br />And send sharp pictures back <br />To Pasadena labs, which helm <br />These artful metal wanderers on caterpillar tracks. <br />We're shown that flowing water once <br />Shaped pebble and crevasse, <br />Not sparely or just briefly, <br />But for time spans that are vast. <br /> <br />For signs of life they vainly grope, <br />Cross shattered craters and harsh fells. <br />It seems a forlorn hope. <br />We're a billion years too late, <br />A long long time ago <br />Escaping air sealed Mars's fate. <br />The hurtling moons of old Barsoom <br />Look down on Man's devices. <br />Did once they shadow motile life? <br />Or was it just some single cells? <br />It seems unlikely Mars gave birth <br />To fragrant flowers or leafy dells. <br /> <br />Yet if once germs existed there, <br />Even though their time was fleeting, <br />It would change our way of seeing <br />The vast star-fields which us surround, <br />In which we know that worlds abound. <br />On Mars the knowledge that we seek <br />Is that life on Earth is not some freak <br />But part of a great sea of being <br />That washes 'cross the cosmic shores.<br /><br />Stephen Wylie<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-red-planet-2/
