Poem: 'MARTIAN DREAMS'

MARTIAN DREAMS: 

FROM THE SONGS OF 

THE QUANTUM CATS 

(For HG Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, 

Leigh Brackett, EC Tubb, and beyond) 

there are the sands of Mars, and the sands of Earth
the green hills of Earth, and the red hills of Mars
the moons of Mars, and the moon of Earth
there are desert storms on Earth
and desert storms on Mars
there are the mountains of Mars, and mountains on Earth
the airs of Earth, and the more tenuous airs of Mars
the dunes of Mars, as there are dunes on Earth
sunrise on Earth, and the sunrise of Mars
days of light, and evenings of dusk
sunsets on Mars that flood the sky with fire
and sunsets on Earth that reflect that fire
there are canyons on Mars deep with darkness
and canyons on Earth only slightly less dark
some say there are ghosts on Mars, as on Earth
that through broken Martian shadows creatures move
conceived in Earth in wistful yearnings,
memories in flight that conspire fantastic dreams
in the mythology of worlds, of Mars, but dreamed on Earth
winds on Mars that whisper through high towers
in cities that lie beyond something more than death
imagined on Earth, Martian plains threaded in canals
that are mapped by Terrestrial cartographers
there are the sands of Earth, and the sands of Mars…


Published in:
‘HANDSHAKE No.89’ (UK – August 2014)