"Funeral Blues" is a simple poem about death, isolation (loneliness), emptiness and longing. The death of a lover may or may not be a literal event (actually happened). The poem is also about the end of a romantic relationship with somebody other than the person's spouse/partner. In four stanzas it moves from the time before the funeral (Stop all the clocks, Silence the pianos...), during the funeral itself (Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come...), after the funeral (He was my North, my South...), and the loneliness and grief that comes with it.