Lake of Fire by Frank Belknap Long — Read

When you've been to Mars, when you've struggled / with men and ships and supplies like some tremendous / Herculean figure in the morning of the world, / you'll never really feel at home on Earth.

Steve found the mirror in the great northwestern desert. It was lying half-buried in the sand, and the wind howled in fury over it, and when he bent to pick it up the sun smote him like a shining blade, dividing his tall body into blinding light and wavering shadow.