Eve Of The War

No one would have believed
In the last years of the nineteenth century
That human affairs were being
Watched from the timeless worlds of space

No one could have dreamed that we were being scrutinized
As someone with a microscope studies creatures
That swarm and multiply in a drop of water

Few men even considered the possibility
Of life on other planets and yet, across the gulf of space
Minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth
With envious eyes, and slowly and surely
They drew their plans against us

At midnight on the twelfth of August
A huge mass of luminous gas
Erupted from Mars and sped towards Earth
Across two hundred million miles of void
Invisibly hurtling towards us were the first of the missiles
That were to bring so much calamity to Earth
As I watched, there was another jet of gas
It was another missile starting on it's way

And that's how it was for the next ten nights
A flare, spurting out from Mars
Bright green, drawing a green mist behind it
A beautiful, but somehow disturbing sight
Ogilvy the astronomer, assured me we were in no danger
He was convinced that there could be no living thing
On that remote forbidding planet

The chances of anything coming from mars are a million to one he said
The chances of anything coming from mars are a million to one
But still they come!

Then came the night the first missile approached Earth
It was thought to be an ordinary falling star
But next day there was huge crater in the middle of the Common
And Ogilvy came to examine what lay there
A cylinder, thirty yards across, glowing hot
And with faint sounds of movement coming from within

Suddenly the top began moving, rotating, unscrewing
And Ogilvy feared there was a man inside, trying to escape
He rushed to the cylinder
But the intense heat stopped him
Before he could burn himself on the metal

The chances of anything coming from mars are a million to one
But still they come!
The chances of anything coming from mars are a million to one he said
The chances of anything coming from mars are a million to one
But still they come!
Yes, the chances of anything coming from mars are a million to one
But still they come!

It seems totally incredible to me now
That everyone spent that evening
As though it were just like any other
From the railway station came the sound of shunting trains
Ringing and rumbling
Softened almost into melody by the distance

It all seemed to safe and tranquil