Funeral Blues
W.H.Auden
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 wood;
For
nothing now can ever come to any
good.