“It’s cold up here, and rather red,”
Sighed Spirit. “I feel faint.”
Good Opportunity then said,
“Crawl on, without complaint!
Langstone Rock, Dawlish, Devon, EX6
“This planet needs our shovels’ bite
And treadmarks in the dust
To tell if life and hematite
Pervade its arid crust.”
Langstone Rock, Dawlish, Devon, EX6
“There’s life, by all the stars above,
On Mars—it’s you and I!”
Blithe Spirit cried. “Let’s rove, my love,
And meet before we die!”
Langstone Rock, Dawlish, Devon, EX6
From John Updike’s Duet on Mars (2004)
