Poems, revisited

Continuing on the subject of movies and poetry (yup, they CAN be combined), this is number 4 on my list of favorite poems, appearing in number 9 on my favorite-film-list.:) Funnily enough, only ONE of my favorite poems is an actual elegy, even though I have a soft spot for sad poems altogether. An additional feature which made me fall for this poem is that in the movie it is recited by John Hannah, the terrific Scottish actor, in marvelous Scottish English. :) Enjoy!

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 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.

-- W.H. Auden

[First published as "Song IX" from 'Twelve Songs' (1936); reprinted under the present title in 'Tell me the Truth about Love' (1976). Most famous appearance? In the movie 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' (which fact does not, surprisingly enough, detract from the quality of the poem one bit).]