Astronomer Percival Lowell, founder of the Lowell Observatory, published Mars and Its Canals in 1906. His observations of the planet mars were greatly influenced by those of Giovanni Schiaparelli. The two men’s speculations generated many subsequent sci-fi novels, stories, movies and, eventually, this poem which appeared first in Apex Magazine and now in my collection, Protective Coloration, avialable from Kelsay Books and at Amazon.com.