Worlds Of War 2 |
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 lipless mouth quivered and slavered,
and snake like tentacles writhed
as the body heaved and pulsated.
A few younger men crept closer to the pit.
A tall funnel rose, and a invisible ray of heat
leaped from man to man, and there was a bright glare
as each was instantly turned into fire.
Every tree and bush became a mass of flames
at the touch of his savage unearthly heat ray.
People ran their way off the Common
and I ran too, felt I was being toyed with that
I was on the very verge of safety.
Thinking: 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 where 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 trough
and alloyed along the edge of the Common to form a cordon.
That evening there was a violent crash
and I realize with horror,
that my home was now in range of the Martian's heat ray.
At dawn a falling star with a trail green mist behind it
landed with a flash like summer lightning
This was the second cylinder……
rim = kant
glistening = glittrade
quivered = darrade
slavered = dreglade
writhed = vred sig
ray = stråle
verge = kanten
account = artikel
serenely = lugnt och fridfullt
indefatigable = outtröttligt
cordon = linje
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