Just as day follows night,
Sunset follows sunrise
And dusk follows dawn
War will follow us to Mars.
Small disputes at first; countries
Clashing over mining rights to ice
Or water, minerals or ore.
But one sol all-out war will rage
Across the world named after that gore-drenched
Roman God. Blood will flow briefly down the slopes
Of Olympus and Pavonis before freezing;
Armies will march down Marineris, kicking
Up clouds of dust like long extinct buffalo herds
Before smashing together with shouts and screams,
Swords flashing and gleaming in the golden sunlight,
Guns and missiles cast aside, exchanged for
Old fashioned cruel blades,
A far more elegant and efficient way
Of opening-up a spacesuit or slicing through
An air hose than a bullet or grenade.
© Stuart Atkinson 2018
Astropoetry 