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 the 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 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
