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