The Creatures - Brian Dewan

They came on a cool summer night when the moon was full

They landed behind City Hall in their module

Everyone was scared to death when they saw the flashing lights

Everyone came out to see what fell out of the sky

People brought their guns and their cameras and homemade bombs

People drove up onto the sidewalks and neighbors' lawns

They stood and waited for Martians to pop out of the pod

A tentacle with an eye on the end emerged from the hatch above

The eye swayed slowly above them from side to side

In an hour the crowd was completely hypnotized

Unearthly music filled the air like downy milkweed seeds

Until each man and woman fell to their knees

A door like a drawbridge opened and touched the ground

And the creatures moved through the people without a sound

They handed presents out to everybody there

They were so beautiful no one could tell what they were

When the world learned about their heavenly heirlooms

They were worth too much money to keep in their living rooms

So everyone donated them to the Municipal Museum

And a monument was built on the spot where the creatures from outer space

Had been

Had been

Had been