Two worlds collided in a pub one day—

Venus and Mars, as I recall quite clear;

A cataclysmic clash that did then spray

Meteors of fire that flared both far and near;

The molten mantle from those cloven cores

Spewed outward through the yawning void of space

Until the visage black of Heaven bore

Scarred streaks of light ‘cross His celestial face.

The slag grew cold, and gravity won out,

Save comets born to blaze their paths alone;

In numbing silence, fragments strewn about

Soon coalesced in mighty belts of stone—

And now in some new tavern, flag unfurled,

I raise a pint—Destroyer of new worlds!