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.

W.H. Auden

Death, Grief and Loss

Death, grief and loss are a normal part of life. They are part of the human experience. Yet knowing this is true doesn’t ease the pain we feel when death touches our lives and we lose someone we love. This reality is captured in the poem below …

Aftershock

The pendulum sways
The piano still plays,
Yet my heart can’t help but break
And my head begins to ache.

The message floats in bold
Of his body growing cold
Lying doomed now to decay
While the sky wears it’s best gray.

All the warmth I’d grown to know
Lies frozen deep below
A flaming love snuffed out
Leaving anguish, pain and doubt.