the bespoke god of man we've made
goes by the name of mars
and his consuming hunger
demands offerings of ours
mars the god of man
of virility and war
mars who does demand
that an oath to him be swore
the patriarch
and the provider
our warlord king
who does preside here
mars who plays pretend
to a platonic form
but who is created
as we offer up our norms
only a god in so far
as he's got us believing
there's one way to appear
to be seen as achieving
his power is made
in the social domain
as we tithe to him
our care and our pain
men enter to his congregation
with selfish acts of mutilation
of those who kneel, and those who resist
we break on the wheel, or simply desist
this old man has had his time
and now his time is done
he's ours to grant or to decline
to make into someone