A Red Wind Rises

Looking out across the sky,

All I see is red.

Red of dust and red of sun,

Colour of blood and dread.

…

I'm already a dead man,

Exposed to UV light.

Or perhaps I'll freeze to death,

Under the Martian night.

…

I recall the screams of those who burned,

And those bereft of water.

Mars, once to be a second Earth,

Now a dusty world of slaughter.

…

I see a dust devil nearby,

Like me, a nomad soul.

But this is Mars, it's the dust's home,

The harshness takes no toll.

…

The devil fades and I'm alone,

Abandoned in the sands.

And very soon my legs collapse,

Dehydrated, cannot stand.

…

I lay down in the dust to die,

And I hear a strong wind rise.

A violent storm, it comes my way,

Servant of the Martian skies.

…

No Eden here, just dust and rock,

A planet of despair.

So dies my breath upon this land,

Fades in the Martian air.