The Streets of Mars (Outlaw Acid Country) I was out ridin’ the red dust of Mars, Past craters that glowed like neon guitars, When I spotted a cowboy laid out by a star, Bleedin’ starlight in the streets of Mars. His boots were chrome, his spurs were flame, His Stetson flickered with a halo of rain, His six-gun hummed like a runaway train That got lost in the Milky Way. He said, “Come sit down beside me, stranger, don’t drift too far… I been shot by love with a laser guitar. She had Venus in her eyes, boy, Jupiter in her heart… Now I’m dyin’ in the streets of Mars.” ⸻ The sky was purple with gasoline clouds, Silver tumbleweeds spun around, Martian saloons played pedal steel loud Through amplifiers made of bones. The bartender poured him liquid light, Said, “Drink up, son, you’ll be alright.” But his shadow was floatin’ two feet high Like it didn’t wanna stay. He said, “I chased her past Phobos, I chased her through time, Across Saturn’s rings and a county line. I’d duel the sun and I’d rob the night Just to call that girl mine.” ⸻ The sheriff was a lizard in mirrored shades, Handed out tickets for outer space, Said, “No heartbreak past this place — It’s a zero-gravity crime.” But the outlaw grinned with a cosmic cough, Said, “Love don’t care what planet you’re on. When she left, gravity turned off… Now I’m just floatin’ in rhyme.” ⸻ He said, “Wrap me up in a solar flare, Lay me down in the crater there. Sing me steel guitar space-prayers Under a radioactive moon.” “Tell my mama back on Earth below Her boy rode hard where the red winds blow, And I tipped my hat to the UFO When it played my favorite tune.” ⸻ The dust devils howled in a minor key, A constellation blinked at me, Somewhere a cosmic harmony Was cryin’ through the bars. I left him there in the glowing sand, With a starlit Bible in his hand, And a trail of bootprints across that land In the streets… Of Mars.
