The Day The Saucers Came

THE DAY THE SAUCERS CAME

That day, the saucers landed.
Hundreds of them, golden,
Silent, coming down from the sky
like great snowflakes,
And the people of Earth stood and stared
as they descended,
Waiting, dry-mouthed to find
what waited inside for us
And none of us knowing
if we would be here tomorrow
But you didn't notice it because

That day, the day the saucers came,
by some coincidence,
Was the day that the graves gave up their dead
And the zombies pushed up through soft earth
or erupted, shambling and dull-eyed, unstoppable,
Came towards us, the living,
and we screamed and ran,
But you did not notice this because

On the saucer day,
which was the zombie day, it was
Ragnarok also, and the television screens showed us
A ship built of dead-man's nails, a serpent, a wolf,
All bigger than the mind could hold,
and the cameraman could
Not get far enough away,
and then the Gods came out
But you did not see them coming because

On the saucer-zombie-battling gods day
the floodgates broke
And each of us was engulfed by genies and sprites
Offering us wishes and wonders and eternities
And charm and cleverness and true brave hearts
and pots of gold
While giants feefofummed across the land,
and killer bees,
But you had no idea of any of this because

That day, the saucer day the zombie day
The Ragnarok and fairies day,
the day the great winds came
And snows, and the cities turned to crystal, the day
All plants died, plastics dissolved, the day
the Computers turned,
the screens telling us we would obey, the day
Angels, drunk and muddled, stumbled from the bars,
And all the bells of London were sounded, the day
Animals spoke to us in Assyrian, the Yeti day,
The fluttering capes
and arrival of the Time Machine day,
You didn't notice any of this because
you were sitting in your room, not doing anything
not even reading, not really, just
looking at your telephone,
wondering if I was going to call.


-----Neil Gaiman-----