Epilogue

Rows of books around me stand,
Fence me in on either hand;
Through that forest of dead words
I would hunt the living birds -
So I write these lines for you
Who have felt the death-wish too,
All the wires are cut, my friends
Live beyond the severed ends.

- Louis Macneice (but who else?)

add: all right, so maybe it could have been auden. but then i'm much more likely to quote macneice than auden