Lyrics adapted from Hazel Dickens’ song “Black Lung” by “Irene,” believed to be among the first terraform workers sent to Mars during its initial colonization in the late 21st century.
He’s had more bad breaks than most settlers could stand
This planet’s his first love but never his friend
He’s worked a hard life and hard he’ll expire
Red lung’s got him, set his breathing on fire
Red lung, red lung, you’ve stolen my time
Soon all of this suffering I’ll leave behind
I can’t help but ask what the Angel had in mind
To let the dust devils claim this breath of mine
HMO TerraCare won’t return his calls
Your medicine’s radiation or it’s nothing at all
Your dignity is nothing when it’s air that you lack
The silence of deep space is calling you back
Down here in Cowtown, on Elysium’s rim
The broken are accepted, but futures are dim
His veins and his bronchioles both stopped up with iron
All that awaits him is the industrial pyre
Red lung, Red lung, your hand’s like a flame
You fill me with fever and boil my brain
Red hot like the scorched sky while the atmosphere grew
Where I sweat my blood out, made this planet new
The CEO’s letter is hollow and staunch
Tells us he died nobly, as his ashes are launched
Take back your bluster, take back your false hope
He’s no more than dust now, like what choked his throat
(The verse below was added by an unknown author during the rebellion that is now referred to as the “Martian Commune.”)
Within the Commune, no bosses endure
Their winter’s the sickness, our Spring is the cure
No more will our lungs burn, no more will our veins
Only our hearts now; a new future’s made
To Whom It May Concern 