United We Stand

We heard the Earth die
thirteen minutes late,
broadcasters bleeding into static,
our isolation wrought by clichés.
Mushroom clouds and escalation.

We are rootless.
Settlers who came to draw
the barest outline of mankind
now practice necromancy,
forcing life from Martian soil, and treasure
from fool’s gold.

Conflict has been our inheritance
since the Romans saw blood red
and named it for their god of war.
We came here as rivals, claiming lands
careful distances apart,
homeworld nations replayed
under new skies.

Now borders turn to vapour
like our homeworld.
United we stand.
Uneasy, but we stand.