And did great claws in ancient time
slash upon Titan’s pitch-dark hills?
And did huge towering lizards roar
through Saturn’s moon’s subzero chills?
And did their mighty bones decay
and seep through Titan’s frozen soil?
Who cares about the reason why
that distant moon yields lovely oil?
Bring me my bombs of Yankee gold!
Bring me my warplanes that can fire!
Bring me a rumour, a claim so bold,
and many a young man’s funeral pyre!
I will not cease from fiscal gain,
my empire not cease to expand,
till we have built New Babylon
on Titan’s barren, lifeless land.
