‘Stop the clocks’: Aunt of Alex Raichman’s poetic tribute after nephew’s tragic death

The aunt of 11-year-old Alex Raichman who died tragically on the tracks at a Sydney train station has posted a moving tribute with the words of a famous poem.

IN a moving tribute to her 11-year-old nephew Alex Raichman’s aunt has posted a poetic tribute on Facebook with the words of the famous WH Auden poem, Funeral Blues.

Shellie Lior Braverman, whose sister is the boy’s mother, posted the poem on her Facebook page with pictures of her nephew and her sister.

Alex Raichman died on Sunday night on the tracks of Oatley train station after wandering off from a carer from a nearby respite home after they had gone out shopping that evening.

Ms Lior Braverman also posted on Facebook to the Sydney Jewish community, a “Thank you beautiful souls for sending love to my family x your community holds me in one piece”.

Posting by the aunt of Alex Raichman in a tribute to her nephew who died on a Sydney train track after wandering from a respite carer.

The moving poem posted by the aunt of Alex Raichman with his photo (above) famously begins ‘Stop the clocks’.

Best known for its rousing beginning, “Stop the clocks, cut off the telephone” Auden’s poetic tribute to a late friend is an English poetry classic.

Ms Braverman posted all the words and included it as a background script to the photos of her nephew.

The poem’s words include: “Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead, Scribbling on the sky the message ‘He is Dead’.

“He was my North, my South, my East and West, my working week and my Sunday rest.”

Meanwhile, a fundraising page has been set up to support Alex’s parents, Sharon Braverman and Dale Raichman who live in the southern Sydney suburb of Rockdale.

Alex Raichman (above at a swim meet) was described as ‘mischievous’ and having a ’sense of adventure’.

Alex Raichman (centre) playing.

The boy also had a twin brother, Samuel and was described as having a “mischievous personality, sense of adventure, beautiful smile, and curiosity about the smallest creations”.

As tributes for Alex flowed, the amount raised by the organising supporting the Sydney Jewish community’s children with special need — the Sydney Friendship Circle — had reached $38,000 by Tuesday afternoon for Alex’s family.

The fundraising page on raisley.com said the family “would never ask for anything but any donation large or small would lift the huge financial burden of his loss during their darkest of hours.”