The Curse

Not often as a reader I come across a story like this one by Arthur Clarke. His excellent choice of words has allowed him to elaborate an incredibly powerful image of desolation and destruction in only a few paragraphs. Truly, no one can finish reading those two pages without feeling a heavy heart.
Still, among the darkness and nothingness of the tale, there is a small ray of hope. Despite the fact that the world seems to have come to an end, its death may not last forever. The final element appearing here is water, which is not completely efficacious for total annihilation. Moreover, it is a source of life. The town is reduced to ruins by the blast, but as it slowly floods, its remains are somewhat sheltered by the swirling waters of the Avon.
Perhaps one day when the time comes they will see daylight again. Cleansed and renewed after being washed by purifying water, maybe millennia later, the earth will hold life again; and the ones who will have such new life will not aim so eagerly towards its destruction.
And deep beneath, intact, the words of the Bard, the symbol of everlasting literature, of what is good and beautiful, will be there to witness it.