Stop The Clocks

Image from http://bewitching.tumblr.com/post/1079567144

Below are several lines I have copied/taken from W.H. Auden's poem Stop the Clocks. Although it was written for a lost love, I find these lines hauntingly beautiful and fitting at the moment.

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.


Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. 

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.