|
Next morning, a crowd gathered on the Common |
|
Hypnotized by the unscrewing of the cylinder |
|
Two feet of shining screw projected |
|
When, suddenly the lid fell off |
|
Two luminous, disc like eyes |
|
Appeared above the rim |
|
A huge, rounded bulk, larger than a bear |
|
Rose up slowly, glistening like wet leather |
|
It's lip less mouth quivered |
|
And snake like tentacles writhed |
|
As the clumsy body heaved and pulsated |
|
A few young men crept closer to the pit |
|
A tall funnel rose, then an invisible ray |
|
Of heat leapt from man to man |
|
And there was a bright glare |
|
As each was instantly turned to to fire |
|
Every tree and bush |
|
Became a mass of flames |
|
At the touch of this savage |
|
Unearthly Heat Ray |
|
People clawed their way |
|
Off the Common and I ran too |
|
I felt I was being toyed with that |
|
When I was on the very verge of safety |
|
This mysterious death would leap after me |
|
And strike me down |
|
At last I reached Maybury Hill |
|
And in the dim coolness of my home |
|
I wrote an account for my newspaper |
|
Before I sank into a restless, haunted sleep |
|
I awoke to alien sounds |
|
Of hammering from the pit |
|
And hurried to the railway station |
|
To buy the paper |
|
Around me, the daily routine |
|
Of life working, eating, sleeping |
|
Was continuing serenely |
|
As it had for countless years |
|
On Horsell Common, the Martians |
|
Continued hammering and stirring |
|
Sleepless, indefatigable at work |
|
Upon the machines they were making |
|
Now and again a light, like the beam |
|
Of a warship's searchlight |
|
Swept the Common |
|
And the Heat Ray was ready to follow |
|
In the afternoon, a company of soldiers |
|
Came through and deployed along the edge |
|
Of the Common, to form a cordon |
|
That evening, there was a violent crash |
|
And I realized with horror |
|
That my home was now within range |
|
Of the Martian's Heat Ray |
|
At down, a falling star |
|
With a trail of green mist landed |
|
With a flash like summer lightning |
|
This was the second cylinder |
