a turquoise flower

"A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire¹, of a Child in London
Dylan Thomas

Never until the mankind making
Bird beast and flower
Fathering and all humbling darkness
Tells with silence the last light breaking
And the still hour
Is come of the sea tumbling in harness

And I must enter again the round
Zion² of the water bead
And the synagogue of the ear of corn
Shall I let pray the shadow of a sound
Or sow my salt seed
In the least valley of sackcloth to mourn

The majesty and burning of the child's death.
I shall not murder
The mankind of her going with a grave truth
Nor blaspheme down the stations of the breath
With any further
Elegy of innocence and youth.

Deep with the first dead lies London's daughter,
Robed in the long friends,
The grains beyond age, the dark veins of her mother,
Secret by the unmourning water
Of the riding Thames.
After the first death, there is no other.

1 During the firebombing of London, known as the Blitz, in World War II
2 Heaven (from a Palestinian citadel, the nucleus of Jerusalem)

~*~

Also, if anyone feels obliged indulging me - what are your favorite sad songs? I'm compiling a playlist of sad songs to listen to while writing (because I've found having the right music on in the background is the perfect catalyst to be in the right mood for what I need to be writing) . This brought to by my creative writing teacher who gave us "little coffin" as this week's writing prompt. Yes, I don't think I'm clever enough yet to make that a *humorous* story so might as well cave in and try to make my whole class sob as much as possible. It's possible that I am a little evil. But only a little. :D

So far my list includes:

Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss"
Scorpions "Wind of Change"
Stone Sour's "Through Glass"
Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"
Sia's "Breathe Me"
Birdy's "Skinny Love" and "Shelter"
Snow Patrol's "Run"
James Blunt's "Goodbye My Lover" (which doesn't help if you've seen Ten/Rose fanvids set to this song)