[Instrumental] [Couplet 1] "A pale red dot in the evening sky" (Carl Sagan) We named you after war, after blood— Yet you cradle only silence, only rust. "The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition" (Neil deGrasse Tyson) But we sent our ghosts in steel, Our voices on the wind— "One small step" echoes where no foot will land. [Pré-refrain] Oh, Mars, you mirror: Not what we are, but what we wish we’d be. [Refrain] Dust to dust—but not like this, Not in the dark, not in the abyss. We carved our names in your canyon walls, Yet you never answer when we call. "The Earth is the cradle of humanity… but one cannot live in a cradle forever" (Konstantin Tsiolkovsky) So we reach, we burn, we fall— For a home that wasn’t ours at all. [Couplet 2] "The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it’s hostile, but that it’s indifferent" (Stanley Kubrick) Your dunes don’t care for flags or kings, Your storms erase the tracks of wings. "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" (Oscar Wilde) —Or at your frozen seas, Your dead volcanoes dreaming. [Pont] [parlé, sur une mélodie descendante] "If there’s life on Mars, I hope it’s better than this one." (David Bowie) (pause) …But what if it’s just us? Just our hunger, our dust, our lust— For a sky that isn’t blue. [Refrain] Dust to dust—but not like this, Not in the cold, not in the dark’s kiss. We built you temples in our minds, While our own world unravels behind. "The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena" (Sagan, encore) So we run—oh, we run so fast, From the wreckage of our past. [Outro] [chuchoté, sur une note tenue] "Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids" No rivers. No trees. No forgiveness. Just the quiet hum of a dying sun… And the ghosts of all we’ve done.
