– There’s dust in the streets
– The streets are clean!
– The canals are empty right there.
– The canals are full of lavender wine!
– It’s dead..

“It’s alive! Oh, you’re quite wrong. See all the carnival lights? There are beautiful boats as slim as women, beautiful women as slim as boats, women the color of sand, women with fire flowers in their hands. I can see them, small, running in the streets there. That’s where I’m going now, to the festival; we’ll float on the waters all night long; we’ll sing, we’ll drink, we’ll make love, Can’t you see it?”

“Mister, that city is dead as a dried lizard. Ask any of our party.
Ray Bradbury. The Martian Chronicles