I saw a shadow, short at first,
And growing like an endless thirst
It snaked along across the ground,
It stirred no earth nor made no sound

And looking up towards the sun,
Observer of our world's dismay,
I saw an obelisk begun
To flee its orbit of decay

It raced on down like sleet and ice,
A keen and freshly sharpened knife,
It slashed the wind and roared aloud
As through the air it drove and ploughed

And fixed its glare upon one spot,
A small and meagre barren plot,
Where formed a shadow, small at first,
But growing like an endless thirst

Until the two became as one,
Where children played upon the floor,
And dust arose to block the sun,
Those children gone forever more