The first lines of the poem is greeted with introduction of the Roman God of War and an eminent figure of the Roman's Gods of Military, Mars, and the Greek Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis. Mars in the night sky is depicted as a bright red star while Artemis is often revered to as the Moon. It is creatively and metaphorically introduced through these characters the absence of light, goodness and direction through the absence of the Moon and the presence of a strong war and militaristic figure through Mars. Furthermore, as disclosed during an interview, the first line was a pun made by the Author to create the context and setting of the poem.

"Mars shall glow tonight," = "Martial Law Tonight"

Furthermore, the words "rust", "twilight sky", "bloodshot", sets a deep imagery that symbolizes war, dimness, and bad omen. Interestingly, the last lines denotes of how merely the "dust" breaks the sleep of the just rather than the bigger phenomena that is happening around them. However, we can also deduce that the dust could symbolize the Filipinos who had fallen , or even yet, it could symbolize the ashes of the fallen Philippine democracy which had awakened others on the realities of Martial Law.

The first stanza agenda was to set the tone of the poem and its setting. It was able to capture the idea that great events would follow as Martial Law had been declared but these events would be downplayed as mere dust as pawns are being moved to ensure that the Marcos Regime does not fail at its conquest.

The story of Prometheus included one wherein he stole fire from the gods of Olympus, to provide it to the people, hoping to give them independence from the said gods. With that, Lacaba incorporated this element, to which the gift of fire may be the initiatives for liberation that had broken through and had given hope to the people. The gift of fire burns within the masses, warm with the knowledge that their oppressors do not have an all-embracing dominion towards them, given weakened cracks that the many could topple over given enough manpower.

For this stanza as well, a whirlwind of emotions and tones is thrown. In the first line, a feeling of being rushed to grasp the beacon of hope is given to the people, to which by the second line, the fury of the author seeps through with feelings of rage, wrath, and ire. Synonymous words are played which effectively placed weight and intensity onto the stanza, planting sentiments of anger onto its audience.

A gloomy tone of despair then fills the next lines of the poem, featuring a moment of weakness of the detained champion. With the creative use of personification, emancipation is given life, as painted as one that respires. Emancipation is the process to be liberated from being detained, enslaved, or controlled. Given the context of being written during Martial Law, this may have been a reference to the experiences of the tortured detainees. At this point of the poem, hope is challenged. This is emphasized by the use of repetition by the last line of the stanza, repeating the word death thrice, leaving an uneasy sensation to its readers.

The third stanza depicts the persona as courageous and fearless as they address Death directly. The character was resolved to use the "flaming sword of love" to defeat even death. The second line, "I am earth, wind, and sea!", could be interpreted as someone demonstrating power and anger. While the hatred ignites within this martyr, it is their love for the purpose for which they are willing to suffer because they believe that humanity deserves better than to worship an arrogant god. Beyond everything, love and compassion for the people wins that they can't bear seeing them trampled.

Aside from Prometheus, this persona represents the author’s desire to spread the word about Marcos’ dictatorship. Lacaba, the author, was well-aware of the consequences when he submitted the poem to get published; he could be arrested, tortured, or get killed for going against the Marcos regime. However, his love for the country and fellow Filipinos comes first before anything else, that even death cannot stop him. He cannot bear to witness the sufferings that the Filipinos were experiencing during martial law and he strongly believes that Filipinos deserve a better leader than Marcos.

Although Orion is a Greek mythological persona, I think the author meant the constellation we see from our night sky. Orion means “the light of heaven”. It is stirring, somewhat disturbing the motionless hearts, confused emotions, long-gone blinded eyes, and ears that had refused to listen for too long. Stars shifting implies that a movement is happening. The author is attempting to touch the people’s hearts, encouraging them to wake up, engage, and disturb the undisturbed.

On the other hand, a vulture is a bird, a dirty one. If seen, it can be considered a bad omen. In Native American legends, this bird is seen as deceitful and aggressive (Clifford) which can be inferred as the representation of those people who consistently blurt out lies and get pleased on the trampled, tortured, violated, and bounded. These people take advantage of other people, mostly the powerless and hopeless ones. It can be seen as a symbol of a corrupt government. The vulture retreating would mean freedom to people from the gloomy threats in their everyday lives. If they retreat, a future will be achieved where everyone can be free to voice out their sentiments without fear and no one can be detained from speaking the truth. This future can only be attained by giving voice to the unheard.

When the country is run by a dictator who has plunged the people into its deepest pit, the author seemingly wanted to relay a message that there is hope to win against him only if the people choose to fight and move rather blindly following his unreasonable commands.

The final stanza declares a revolution or a call for action as people are thirsty for freedom that has long been denied. The author was telling the people to overthrow the corrupt and brutal regime of Marcos.

Carefully analyzing, the god that was mentioned in the last line of the final stanza was not Zeus. Although he is a god who reeks of authority and charisma which he shared a great resemblance to Ferdinand Marcos, I think it was rather Prometheus who had enough and now dared to resist. It was Prometheus who was bound on Mt. Olympus as a punishment for going against Zeus and now decided to oppose. Prometheus can be symbolized as the Filipino people who protested as they experienced or witnessed the extreme lengths of injustices under the Marcos regime and now would want to be set free from the tyrannical governance to no longer experience such vicious treatment no one deserves to undergo.