Dead London

There were a dozen dead bodies in the Euston road, their bodies 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 jewellers some gold chains and a watch were scattered on the pavement
 Ulla!
 I stopped, staring toward to sound
 It seemed as if that mighty desert of house had found a voice for its fear and solitude
 Ulla!
 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 in state in its black shroud?
 I felt intolerably lonely, drifting from street to empty street, drawn inexorably towards that cry
 Ulla!
 I saw, over the trees on Primrose hill, the Fighting Machine from which the howling came
 I crossed Regents canal
 There stood a second machine, upright, but a still as the first
 Ulla!
 Ul-!
 Abruptly, the sound ceased
 Suddenly, the desolation, the solitude, became unendurable
 While that voice sounded, London had still seemed alive
 Now, suddenly, there was a change, the passing of something and all that remained was this gaunt quite
 I looked up and saw a third machine
 It was erect and motionless, like the others
 An inane resolve possessed me
 I would give my life to the Martians, here and now
 I marched recklessly towards the titan and saw a multitude of black birds was 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, and the Martians camp was below me
 A mighty space it was, and scattered about it, in their overturned machines, were the Martians Dead!
 Slain after all mans devices had failed, by the humblest things on Earth, Bacteria, Minute, invisible bacteria!
 Directly the invaders arrived and drank and fed, our microscopic allies attacked them
 From that moment they were doomed!