National Poetry Month: Stop all the clocks… by W.H. Auden

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 for ever: 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.

Such a beautiful, sad tribute to a lost love. So descriptive and full of feeling. The words bring tears to my eyes, especially the third stanza. Have loved this one since '94, when I first heard it in the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Is there a poem that you can't forget or brings you to tears?

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