The womb of steel, with thunder and a moan br Released its burden, and the screaming shell br Swung up in flame above the heavens' Hell. br Remote, on sounding skies till then unknown, br Where once the vulture circled, high and lone, br Or Alpine eagles had their citadel, br That iron offspring took the dark, then fell br As falls, unheralded, the meteor-stone. br br In that domain of majesty and night br There stood no haven for its evil flight: br Its goal was horror, and the goal afar. br Ere long, where huddling babes and women wept, br And wounded men were couched, and no man slept, br Deep in the midnight city sank that star.