Nirvana

 One of the most moving poems I have come across.

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 noon, 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 woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

    — W.H. Auden

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An interesting post by Anji Reddy on Abdul Kalam in The Hindu. One particular anecdote in this post stands out.

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Hmm, I had this compilation of quotes in my mailbox today, it was forwarded by one of my friends. Sit back, relax, read and laugh your butts off!

Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,"
–Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.

"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
–Mariah Carey

"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life,"
–Brooke Shields, during an interview to become Spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.

"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body,"
–Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.

"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country,"
–Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC.

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."
–Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents.

"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass and I'm just the one to do it,"
–A democratic congressional candidate in Texas.

"Half this game is ninety percent mental."
–Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it." –Al Gore, Vice President

"I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix." –Dan Quayle

"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?" - Lee Iacocca

"The word genius isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
–Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.

"We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people."
–Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor.

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." –Bill Clinton, President

"We are already for an unforeseen event that may or may not occur." –Al Gore, VP

"Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas." –Keppel Enderbery

"Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances."
–Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina

"If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record." –Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman

This forward actually triggered an argument between couple of friends - one of them took the line that Joe Theisman's statement was an example of tautology and Al Gore's comment on unforeseen event was superfluous but not gramatically incorrect. The other objected to it and was of the opinion that the statements were incorrect.

I know nothing of Norman Einstein, so I googled for this famous quote and found that Norman Einstein was Theisman's ex- school mate. Not willing to let go of a chance to voice my own opinion, I had to take sides with the former - that the two statements although superfluous are gramatically correct. What say you?

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Worth pondering about!

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