Red Planet

Red Planet by Richard Mather

red is the colour

of the bone snapped back

red is the colour

of a land under bombs

the root of the brain

with its insides thrombosed

of the fog that descends

on the dread multitude

the colour of the eye

as it sinks its last tear

of the flag that adorns

the bone-stinking tombs

of the skin folded under

and the nerve-wire exposed

the colour of grief

and the colour of feud

the colour of a mind

as the light changes mood

blood is the colour

of primordial mud

of the devilish worm

that swims in our blood