A Princess of Mars

For ten years I have waited and prayed for an answer to my questions.

For ten years I have waited and prayed to be taken back to the world of

my lost love. I would rather lie dead beside her there than live on

Earth all those millions of terrible miles from her.

The old mine, which I found untouched, has made me fabulously wealthy;

but what care I for wealth!

As I sit here tonight in my little study overlooking the Hudson, just

twenty years have elapsed since I first opened my eyes upon Mars.

I can see her shining in the sky through the little window by my desk,

and tonight she seems calling to me again as she has not called before

since that long dead night, and I think I can see, across that awful

abyss of space, a beautiful black-haired woman standing in the garden

of a palace, and at her side is a little boy who puts his arm around

her as she points into the sky toward the planet Earth, while at their

feet is a huge and hideous creature with a heart of gold.

I believe that they are waiting there for me, and something tells me

that I shall soon know.