Poem from "Four Weddings and a Funeral" Lyrics & Recording

There's a beautiful poem by W H Auden from the film "Four Weddings and a Funeral" called "Funeral Blues" and read by John Hannah. It's amazingly powerful. I've read it here against an audio backdrop of "When Darkness Falls" by Secret Garden - which I felt made an evocative combination. 

mp3 of Funeral Blues / When Darkness Falls read by Nik Sargent

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 

Comments

[Dani]

Thanks for posting the lyrics/words. Just what I was looking for.