Saturday, February 6, 2010

Funerals and the abyss it creates in our hearts

Written by W H Auden, this poem stands out to me at least as one of the best funeral poems written ever by poets. First time i heard this one in a movie called 'Four weddings and a funeral' and it immediately touched my heart. Truly amazing poem, written by W H Auden.
Last two paragraphs captures the emptiness/hollowness/loneliness felt by the heart when someone close leaves us never to return.

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever; I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one:
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods:
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

- by W. H. Auden

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