During times of crisis when the world is soaked in grief, waves of sadness touch us as we yearn for what has been lost. When in the middle of grief, it helps to know that we are not alone. We find comfort knowing that others have been there and survived to tell about it. W. H. Auden has been to the territory of grief and returns with a poem.
Funeral Blues
~by W. H. AudenStop 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.
The poem is also known by its first line, an appeal to halt the unforgiving tick of time: “Stop all the clocks…”
While the poem takes us into the depths of grief and despair, I find hope that pain can be transformed into something so beautiful–like poetry. Recited in the movie, Four Weddings and a Funeral, this poem by W. H. Auden captures a moment of grief. While the movie is a romantic comedy with Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell, the movie also celebrates the stages of life when friends scatter into separate lives, come together again first at weddings, and then as time marches on … gathering at funerals.
Watch this clip of Funeral Blues from the movie, Four Weddings and a Funeral
