Tuesday, March 11, 2008
..do not send to ask for whom the bell tolls..



I've been thinking I should post something for quite a while, never really got around to it, as anybody who's checked out the archives would know by now.. N yes, now that I'm doing it, well, it's all a jumble..

What got me thinking first was a friend of mine losing a couple of members of her family on the same day, in an accident. My prayers n thoughts with her n the family at this juncture. In all our life, if there is ever one single reality which cannot be denied, which cannot be disproved, that is Death, le Mort. And whatever religion you believe in, Hinduism, Christianity, Scientology, whatever, nobody really knows anything about what happens afterwards, except that the corporeal body returns to dust.

That should be it about Death for now, have a lot more to say but I'll come back to that later. Anyways, this kinda got me thinking about my own death, and what happens then. NO, I did not want to prepare a will, or make a last wish.. I was rather thinking, what impressions would I leave behind. Like Chandler Bing once said, it might be that the world will remember me only by the ass-print on my favourite chair.

I'm not saying death aint a sober or a sombre affair, it is, because you've just lost a person who somehow or the other mattered to you. But something I've kinda noticed, the concept of "eulogy" does not seem to be common in our society, and as far as I know, not anywhere in India. The funeral is as much about remembering the departed, as it is about the relatives' n friends' grief. N i got thinking, I'd like a eulogy by a friend, that is in case, I have even one friend left by the time I die, n yes, I do have some candidates in mind.. :D

Generally, even though I sometimes write what I like to call "poetry" (ahem!), I dont like reading poetry, with all its metaphors n surrealism and what-not. Jhanjhad hai yaar, mere se nahi hota.. If u wanna write something, make it direct, in your face. Anyways, more on that later. Point is, while browsing the net, I kinda stumbled on this poem, "Funeral Blues" by W.H. Auden, really touching. And I thought, I'd like to have it read at my funeral. Just thought I'd put it up here..

>>

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 crêpe 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.

<< style="font-style: italic;">Guns n Roses cover of "Knocking On Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan. Awesome song, those who're familiar with it would say, and those who arent, you're missing something.

So, that's it.. A poem or a song, 5 minutes of the mourner's time.. Now, some of you might call this post morbid, but really, I dont know, I think it's pretty normal.. :D
 
posted by One Bizarre Scribe at 12:21 PM | Permalink |


11 Comments:


  • At 10:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous

    dont get bothered about these things man..there is enough time left in u, before u could even have to imagine these sort of things....by god's grace obviously...anyway my heart felt condolence towards to ur friend's relatives' demise..

    wellwisher

     
  • At 8:06 AM, Blogger Gayatri Bhadran

    mm. yes. death. i lost my most favorite person in the world when i was in class 11. so yes, Death. been there! =|

    and as for the comment you left on my Shakespeare in love post about watching Elizabethtown. i already have, a very long time back. and here is my post on the same! =D

    http://bonappetite.blogspot.com/2007/10/elizabethtown.html

     
  • At 8:49 AM, Blogger One Bizarre Scribe

    ah, thnx 4 the comments, appreciate it.. n Anonymous: you think you have time, you keep thinking, you keep thinking, n boom!!

     
  • At 11:34 AM, Blogger Gayatri Bhadran

    yup, you're right, i havent done justice to elizabethtown. i was just high on kirsten dunsts' character =P

    maybe you should post about it instead, you'll do a much better job than me for sure! =)

     
  • At 7:48 PM, Blogger gauri.mhn

    that was an awesome poem..its said that losing someone you love is emotionally the most painful thing in the world coz the whole world suddenly seems irrelevant, disconnected to you. all the things that you ever believed in, everything that you thought was beautiful in this world might not mean anything more.. we just have to find a new reason to live again.

     
  • At 10:17 PM, Blogger Unknown

    thats been problem for a while with u..think positively and be positive...other than that u r a vibrant youth in all respects, who could reach out to anyone with ur enigma..but be positive in ur attitude, atleast think positively.....hope u do appreciate m y comments:)
    wellwisher

     
  • At 10:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous

    the poems u r wrote here are amazing, congrats....

     
  • At 8:46 AM, Blogger One Bizarre Scribe

    @ Gayatri: I'll try, because it's one movie i adore..

    @ Gauri: You might have to find a reason, but it might not be as hard as you think it is.

    @ Rahul: Appreciate the comment, n sounds like you know me, so tell me one of these days, when i was ever an enigma.. ;)

    @ Anonymous: Thanks, appreciate it.. :)

     
  • At 2:28 PM, Blogger shayon

    there's one on my profile on death as well, but i think ur post is pretty normal...:)
    btw...regarding the poem..i don really like that one. its pretty kiddish.
    and abt the sponge : there's a third type as well, the one which sucks in all the alcohol it can find and goes flat.
    :P

     
  • At 9:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous

    "Death", is not morbid, its just a factor that triggers ones emotions into dwelling too much into its happenings. You seem to be one affected by it. On the other hand life is morbid, because you experience what the dead can't.

     
  • At 7:11 PM, Blogger One Bizarre Scribe

    @ Shayonti: thanks for the heads-up, will be on the look-out 4 tht one.. =)

    @ anonymous: and they say the grass is always greener on the other side.. :)