Liber Martis - Chapter 49

Verses

I hate the red star because men have used its name whenever they wanted murder to sound older than themselves.

They say Mars made them furious. No: Mars was millions of kilometers away minding its craters.

Do not blame a planet for the hand on the trigger.

I have seen uniforms folded beside photographs of children who did not understand the word sacrifice.

Every monument says the dead were brave. Few monuments ask why bravery was required.

Give me the coward who refuses a stupid war over the hero who wins it beautifully.

The battlefield has no music. The music is added later by people who were not there.

Iron is innocent until someone gives it an address.

Perhaps Mars should sue us for defamation.

We named two little moons Fear and Dread, as though we carried neither before discovering them.

I do not curse courage. I curse the merchants who sell courage by the coffin.

If there must be a red planet, let its redness remind us that blood is impressive only while it remains inside the living.

Let generals study dry riverbeds until they understand how completely a world can lose what once seemed permanent.

Let every conqueror visit a crater and practice being small.

Mars, I release you from our wars. They were ours.