Post #2: "Funeral Blues"

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Our next assignment is to choose a poem that stands out to us from a list of several. I've chosen "Funeral Blues" by W. H. Auden. I've chosen this poem because of the overwhelming sadness I felt after reading it. The speaker appears to tell a story of a loved one that has passed on and describes his or her immense grief and disbelief:

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.

I instantly felt a connection to this poem not because a loved one of mine had died but more so because I could relate to a similar pain after going through a bad break-up several years ago. My boyfriend and I moved in together already knowing we were reaching the end of our relationship but hoping that this next step would turn things around for the better. It didn't. The more I realized we were drifting further apart the more depressed I became. Somewhere in my head I still believed we could make it and survived only on the "thought" of our perfect future. I put all that I had into trying to make our relationship work and centered every part of my life around him. When it finally came to an end we continued to live together for another 6 months. I was miserable.

On the day I moved out I felt as though my heart had been ripped out and I left it behind with him. I think the photo I chose accurately depicts that feeling. I attributed the line "bring out the coffin, let the mourners come" to my ex and I finalizing our relationship and the point in time where my friends spent every waking minute trying to check on me and make sure I was ok.

I would send this poem to my ex-boyfriend. We have both since moved on to other relationships and have become friends that can discuss anything. I'd like the opportunity to explain to him that the tone of the poem mirrors how I was feeling when I left our apartment. He often says I left angrily and with my head held high when that was far from the case. Once he reads the poem I believe he will then fully understand what our relationship meant to me at that time.