"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 for ever: 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."
-W.H. Auden

2 Samuel 12:14-31

New International Version (NIV)

14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the son born to you will die.�

15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah�s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.

18 On the seventh day the child died. David�s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, �While the child was still living, he wouldn�t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.�

19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. �Is the child dead?� he asked.

�Yes,� they replied, �he is dead.�

20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.

21 His attendants asked him, �Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!�

22 He answered, �While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, �Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.� 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.�

24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; 25 and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.

Lovely magmag.
» Zanzibar on 2011-12-07 09:31:30

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