IN MARS, WHAT AVATAR?

PERCHANCE the dying gods of Earth

Are destined to another birth,

And worn-out creeds regain their worth

In the kindly air of other stars —

What lords of life and light hold sway

In the myriad worlds of the Milky Way?

What avatars in Mars?

What Aphrodites from the seas

That lap the plunging Pleiades

Arise to spread afar

The dream that was the soul of Greece?

In Mars, what avatar?

Which hundred moons are wan with love

For dull Endymions?

Which hundred moons hang tranced above

Audacious Ajalons?

What Holy Grail lures errants pale

Through the wastes of yonder star?

What fables sway the Milky Way?

In Mars, what avatar?

When morning skims with crimson wings

Across the meres of Mercury,

What dreaming Memnon wakes and sings

Of miracles on Mercury?

What Christs, what avatars,

Claim Mars?