And the people, jostling, gasped for breath
As they wildly fled from the jaws of death;
Little leisure or care had they
Their household treasures to bear away.
Nevertheless, as one returned
To where the débris smouldering burned,
Where heaps of ashes, and brick, and stone,
Were all that remained of a goodly home—
Saving a charred and blackened wall,
Like skeleton rising gaunt and tall—