死生之事較尋常景色更觸動心靈，由此，挽歌天然的具備深刻肅穆之氣質，凡佳作，無不令人扼腕擊節。
其一 《挽歌為沃爾夫伯爵馮·卡爾克羅伊而作》節選——里爾克
命運是怎樣地
在詩中一去永不復返
它是怎樣地，在詩中成為模糊的影象
所有發生過的事物
總是先于我們的判斷
我們無從追趕，難以辨認
不要膽怯
如果有死者與你擦肩而過
同他們，平靜地對視吧
無數人的憂傷，使你與眾不同
我們目睹了
發生過的事物
那些時代的豪言壯語
并非為我們所說出
有何勝利可言
挺住就是一切
其二 《Funeral Blues》——Wystan Hugh 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 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.
寫的是挽歌，寫的簡直不是挽歌。
