As with most people around the World today I will be thinking of the people who died and their families in New York.

This afternoon I will be meeting with a group of people (both young and old) and a friend and myself would like to read something appropriate before and after the Minute Silence. Can anyone recommend something suitable?

Thank you,
Denise.

When I heard this in the film, "Four Weddings and a Funeral" I was greatly moved. Perhaps it might work for you before the minute of silence.

W. H. Auden /1907 - 1973/

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 moon, 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 wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

How well that captures the desolate feelings of losing someone close. Very touching indeed, and very possibly appropriate for BEFORE a Minute's Silence.

I would like now to find something offering Hope perhaps for afterwards.

Grateful to you Eoghania,
Denise.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain
I am the gentle Autumn rain.
When you awaken in the mornings hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight
I am the soft stars that shine at night
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there
I did not die.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lighting they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Let us not forget our losses. Let us neither forget our liberties. Let us rage, rage against the dying of that light.

Not to be too morbid ...Stephen has said he will recite Funeral Blues at my funeral should I die before him ...we both love it

Melody

TS Eliot - The Hollow Men or one of the sections from the Waste Land
John Donne - Death be not Proud
Dylan Thomas - Do not go gentle into that good night

Also two by Northern Irish poet Jams Simmons. Probably inappropriate because they are about a differet situation, but the emotions are right imo - Ballad of Claudy & Lament for a Dead Policeman

This is from one of the memorial sites for 9/11

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

Dont know if you will find this suitable at all as it was written for my dog but anyway here goes:

Fountain of Love

I hear you cried a fountain
Because I went away
I hear that you reach out for me
every single day
I know that there’s not many songs
that you can bear to hear
that do not make you feel so sad
and want me to be near
please don’t cry a fountain because you think I’m dead
I’m here beside you every day
I’m here inside your head
I’m here with every breath you take
and every night when you’re asleep
into your room I gently creep
and place a kiss on your forehead
oh no my friend I am not dead
for there is no such thing you know
and I am here to prove it so
When my body grew so tired
and my heart was beating slow
and my legs refused to move
I knew it was my time to go
Please don’t cry a fountain
I’m here with you forever
Though my body’s gone to dust
I will leave you never !

Glenys fryer

I recall one poem called 'Death means nothing at all'- anyone have a copy?
Lorna

DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL

Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I, and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other, that we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way you always used.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me.

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Life means all that it ever meant.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity....
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight.
I am waiting for you.....
for an interval....
somewhere near,
just around the corner.

All is well.

Henry Scott Holland

Fiona
x x x

Oh my god im going off for awhile , Im in bits

Thanks Fiona, tears now rolling down my cheeks, - my sons girlfriend aged just 21 died in a car crash two years ago,and her sister read that poem at her funeral. Today has bought back to me all my personal grief, as well as feeling for all others who lost loved ones.
Lorna

Denise, what did you choose to read in the end?

Hello Sharon,

I would like to thank Eoghania, Philippa, Sarah, Nouggatti, Mattie, Issysmum, Dudley and of course yourself, for some very beautiful and touching verses. Some well known and others very thought provoking.

I personally decided to read the very first 'Funeral Blues', which I felt portrayed the desolation of losing someone loved.

I then decided to read something that I wrote from my own feelings that morning.

"When a tragedy on this scale happens, it makes us feel so helpless and vunerable, not only for those we do not even know, but brings an awareness of the fragile cocoon surrounding those we love, and our own sense of being.

Let us learn to listen to Peace and acknowledge Contentment. Let us be moved to care with Compassion, and in our own private fears, let us learn that Faith is reaching out in that darkness, and knowing and finding that our hand will be gently held".

Thank you all again,
Denise.

Hi Denise,The lines that you wrote are beautiful, and very moving.

Thank you Philippa, much appreciated.

Kind regards,
Denise.

Excellent choice Denise, and a lovely few words of your own. I'm sure it made everyone think.