THE HOAX*

Mars and Earth are coming close.

They’ll be within a shout.

Just look up this summer night

If you’re in any doubt.

Mars will light the eastern sky

As bright as Earth’s full moon.

Mars’ canals will flow nearby,

And cityscapes will loom.

Little men complected green

Will wave and cry ‘HELLO!’

My goodness, it will almost seem

We could share a cup of joe!

Then in a trice they’ll be gone,

Not likely to return,

For sixty-thousand years.

Don’t this rare chance spurn!

Drag your ass from cosy bed,

Drive beyond the urban glow.

Gaze up and see the planet red

Immensely grow and grow.

What’s this? Mars looks the same to you,

Much as it always did?

Just a glowing crimson spark,

No friendly katykid?

Sorry, we misled you.

Actually t’was a hoax.

We don’t have enough to do

So we play outlandish jokes.

*In August, 2009, according to an internet hoax, Mars and Earth were to become so close to each other that Mars would appear the size of the full moon.