The first thing seen is the twinkle. 
It's a sprinkle of moon dust, star dust. 
It pings like a ricochet, bouncing ever. 
It obscures the bulk, a hulk, a hull, 
Punctuated like a pin cushion, bristling  
With armament and death. 
Sliding through the black 
No turbulence in the night 
The pinpricks of light invade
Like the invaders within 
Marauders that bring terror 
From orbit, like descending doom. 
They come down like a cloud of the birds 
They fall down like psychos 
They come to kill with machines 
Of consumption and crushing 
They recycle the air into smoke 
They curdle the ocean with silt 
They corrupt our great material with dirt 
They obliterate then murder.

Alfred Hitchcock, English film director and producer, was born today in 1899.

H. G. Wells, English writer, died on this day in 1946.