|
There were a dozen dead bodies in the Euston road |
|
Their outlines softened by the black dust |
|
All was still, houses locked and empty, shops closed |
|
But looters had helped themselves to wine and food |
|
And outside a jewelers some gold chains |
|
And a watch were scattered on the pavement |
|
Allah |
|
I stopped, staring towards the sound |
|
It seemed as if that mighty desert of houses |
|
Had found a voice for its fear and solitude |
|
Allah |
|
The desolating cry worked upon my mind |
|
The wailing took possession of me |
|
I was intensely weary, footsore, hungry and thirsty |
|
Why was I wandering alone in this city of the dead? |
|
Why was I alive |
|
When London was lying in state in its black shroud? |
|
I felt intolerably lonely, drifting from street to empty street |
|
Drawn inexorably towards that cry |
|
Allah |
|
I saw, over the trees on Primrose hill |
|
The fighting machine from which the howling came |
|
I crossed regent's canal, there stood a second machine, upright |
|
But as still as the first |
|
Allah |
|
Abruptly, the sound ceased, suddenly the desolation |
|
The solitude, became unendurable |
|
While that voice sounded London still seemed alive |
|
Now suddenly there was a change, the passing of something |
|
And all that remained was this gaunt quiet |
|
I looked up and saw a third machine |
|
It was erect and motionless, like the others |
|
An insane resolve possessed me |
|
I would give my life to the Martians, here and now |
|
I marched recklessly towards the titan |
|
And saw that a multitude of black birds were |
|
Circling and clustering about the hood |
|
I began running along the road, I felt no fear, only a wild |
|
Trembling exultation as I ran up the hill |
|
Towards the motionless monster |
|
Out of the hood hung red shreds |
|
At which the hungry birds now pecked and tore |
|
I scrambled up to the crest of Primrose hill |
|
The Martian's camp was below me |
|
A mighty space it was and scattered about it |
|
In their overturned machines were the Martians, dead |
|
Slain after all man's devices had failed by the humblest |
|
Things upon the earth, bacteria, minute invisible bacteria |
|
Directly the invaders arrived and drank and fed |
|
Our microscopic allies attacked them |
|
From that moment, they were doomed |
