The Artilleryman Returns

I suddenly noticed the body of a parson lying on the ground in a ruined churchyard I felt unable to leave him to the mercy of the red weed, and decided to bury him, decently Nathaniel! Nathaniel! The parson's eyes flickered open He was alive! Nathaniel, I saw the church burst into flame, are you all right? Don't touch me! But it's me, Beth! Your wife! No! You're one of them - a devil! He's delirious! Lies! I saw the devil's sign! What are you saying? The green flash in the sky His demons were here all along, in our hearts and souls Just waiting for a sign from Him And now they're destroying our world! But they're not devils, they're Martians We must leave here! Look, a house still standing, come Nathaniel, quickly We took shelter in a cottage, and black smoke spread, hemming us in Then a fighting machine came across the field Spraying jets of steam that turned the smoke into thick, black dust Ulla! Dear God, help us! The voice of the Devil is heard in our land! Listen, do you hear them drawing near In their search for the sinners? Feeding on the power of our fear And the evil within us? Incarnation of Satan's creation of all that we dread When the demons arrive those alive would be better off dead! There must be something worth living for There must be something worth trying for Even some things worth dying for! And if one man can stand tall There must be hope for us all Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man Once there was a time when I believed Without hesitation That the power of love and truth could conquer all In the name of salvation Tell me what kind of weapon is love when it comes to the fight? And just how much protection is truth against all Satan's might? There must be something worth living for There must be something worth trying for Even some things worth dying for And if one man can stand tall There must be some hope for us all Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man People loved you, and trusted you, came to you for help Didn't I warn them this would happen? Be on your guard, I said, for the Evil One never rests I said exorcise the devil! But no, they wouldn't listen, the demons inside them grew and grew Until Satan gave his signal and destroyed the world we knew! No Nathaniel, oh no, Nathaniel No Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life There has to be a way that we can Restore to life the love we used to know (No) Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life There has to be a way that we can Restore to life the light that we have lost Now darkness has descended on our land And all your prayers cannot save us Like fools we've let the devil take command Of the souls that God gave us To the altar of evil like lambs to the slaughter were led When the demons arrive the survivors will envy the dead! There must be something worth living for (No, there is nothing!) There must be something worth trying for (I don't believe it's so!) Even some things worth dying for If just one man could stand tall There would be some hope for us all Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone! Didn't I warn them? Pray, I said! Destroy the devil, I said! They wouldn't listen! I could have saved the world! But now it's too late, too late! No Nathaniel, oh no, Nathaniel No Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life There has to be a way that we can Restore to life the love we used to know (No) Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life There has to be a way that we can Restore to life the light that we have lost Dear God! A cylinder's landed on the house And we are underneath it, in the pit! The Martians spent the night making a new machine It was a squat, metallic spider with huge, articulated claws But it, too, had a hood in which a Martian sat I watched it pursuing some people across a field It caught them nimbly and tossed them into a great metal basket upon its back Beth! She's dead! Buried under the rubble Why? Satan! Why did you take one of your own? There is a curse on Mankind We may as well be resigned To let the devil, the devil take the spirit of man As time passed in our dark and dusty prison The Parson wrestled endlessly with his doubts His outcries invited death for us both - and yet, I pitied him