Funeral Blues

This is one of my favorite poems. You may have heard it in the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, spoken beautifully by John Hannah. Its by W.H. Auden

Funeral Blues

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

Let airplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling in 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.