Remembrance page

 

 

 

Many beautiful poems have been written describing the feelings of grief when losing a loved one, whether human or pet. We have our personal favourite, a poem, that to us puts feelings into words far better than any poem we have read. Written By W. H. Auden, "Stop all the Clocks, Cut Off the Telephone (Funeral Blues)"

 

Stop all the Clocks, Cut Off the Telephone

(Funeral Blues)

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 in the sky the message He is Dead,
Put crêpe 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 wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973)

©Copyright. The Estate of W. H. Auden, 1976, 1991.All Rights Reserved.

The W. HAuden Society

 

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