"Bring Out the Coffin . . ."

On a 1997 trip to Haiti, in February, to be there during the Carnaval period; one day while out for a ramble around, I took these three shots in quick succession, simply because I was intrigued with the way large numbers of people and baggage were piled on trucks and transported from one place to another like that in Haiti. Often the trucks were colorful affairs with brightly colored paint, and usually a slogan of some sort across the front. This one said across the top of the windshield, " DIEU RESPONSABLE"... or "God is Responsible". It wasn't until much later, looking at the images shot that day, that I realized there was a coffin tied down on top of the load, I'd been so busy trying to get a clear photograph, that I hadn't seen what the cargo was . . . I can only imagine someone was being carried off to their final resting place.
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The poem by W.H. Auden that was famously used in the movie "Four Weddings and a Funeral" comes to mind now looking at these images . . .
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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.
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Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
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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.
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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.
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