Wind up the clocks, answer the phone
Leave the dog to bark loudly – she’s at home.
Play the piano and beat the drum
Bring out dancers, let people come.
Watch buzzards circle overhead
Looking for footprints where she treads.
Decorate trees with ribbons and bows
Swaying gently when the wind blows.
She is the north, south, east and west
Throughout the week, wearing her Sunday best.
At noon, at midnight, she sings her song
She knows love is eternal – and isn’t wrong.
The stars are still needed: welcome each one
Call out the moon and call on the sun
Clean up the ocean, plant the trees
Everything matters, rest at ease.
This poem is very obviously an adaptation of W H Auden’s Funeral Blues. I wrote this version the day after learning my leukaemia had returned but the treatment options were no longer there owing to my body not being strong enough to cope with intensive chemotherapy. I wanted to re-write the script. I will die but that doesn’t stop everything else mattering. Life must go on. To hear Auden’s original poem as a lyric, listen here.
September 2023 is Blood Cancer Awareness Month. It is also Child Cancer Awareness Month. Every day 10 children in the UK are diagnosed with cancer. Of those lucky enough to survive, many will have long-term side-effects that may significantly impact their lives forever.
I am posting one poem per day to recognise this and raise money for the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust. This charity provides sailing and other outdoor adventures for children and young people aged 8-24 who have been treated for cancer. But it’s more than that. There’s a package of support around this including siblings, return trips, volunteering opportunities and so on. The Trust also works hard to ensure their work is environmentally sustainable. You can make a donation HERE!
This poem gives me a thrill in its celebration of life. It reminds me of how my Mum said my Dad wouldn’t mind if we ate a sweet at his funeral - and that he would want us to love our life despite his absence in it. This poem is an amazing and selfless gift to the world, a lovely antidote to Auden’s cry of anguish. Thank you!
Funeral Blues is one of my favorite poems and now your version is so beautiful and a new favorite. May you live your remaining days and nights in comfort and ease and poems to meet every moment of just waking up in the morning.