Perhaps it isn't right to compare the loss of Kodo with the loss of a human.
Still, I have lost both pets and persons and this is what came to mind in my
sorrow the moment I learned of Kodo's murder.
 
Funeral Blues
by W. H. Auden
 
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 moon, 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 woods:
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
 
 * * * *
 
I wish to add that love CAN last forever, and that something CAN come to
good; it's all up to us now to be sure that Kodo does not die in vain!
 
For Kodo - Everybody's Ferret.
[Posted in FML issue 1970]