Gentle & reassuring
Words about continuing love, memory and the quiet ways someone remains part of our lives.
Poems & readings
When your own words are hard to find.
The right poem does not have to sum up a whole life. Sometimes a few honest lines are enough to create comfort, recognition or a moment to breathe.
Choosing a reading
Look for recognition, not perfection.
Families often feel pressure to find the one perfect poem. In truth, the most affecting choice is usually the one that sounds like the person or says something your family genuinely recognises.
It might echo their love of the outdoors, acknowledge grief without trying to solve it, or bring a welcome flash of humour. A familiar song, a passage from a book or a few words written by the family may feel more fitting than a traditional funeral poem.
Your celebrant can help you narrow the choices and place the reading where it will feel natural within the ceremony.
Start with the tone
How should the room feel?
Warm & conversational
Plain-speaking readings that sound natural aloud and feel close to everyday family life.
Celebratory
Poems with energy, humour or gratitude — fitting for a person who would not want too much solemnity.
Reflective & spiritual
Writing about nature, time, faith or the questions we cannot neatly answer.
A closer look
Why include a poem at a funeral?
Whether the ceremony is religious or non-religious, a poem or verse can be a powerful and moving moment — especially when it is read by a friend or family member.
There are hundreds of poems to choose from. You may already have a favourite, want to write something new, or ask for something written for this person. If inspiration is hard to find, a short selection can help you begin.
Popular public-domain poems
A selection to help you get started.
These works are by authors whose copyright has expired in the UK. Particular editions or translations may still carry separate rights.
Remember
Christina Rossetti
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
When I am dead, my dearest
Christina Rossetti
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain;
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.
Death is Nothing at All
Henry Scott-Holland
Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I, and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
speak to me in the easy way you always used.
Put no difference into your tone;
wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
just around the corner.
All is well.
Crossing the Bar
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.
Requiem
Robert Louis Stevenson
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
The Man in the Arena
Theodore Roosevelt
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great dedications; who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
An Irish Blessing
Traditional
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
the rains fall soft upon your fields,
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Also often chosen
Modern favourites to ask about.
These titles are still protected by copyright, so we list them as suggestions rather than reproducing the full text. Your celebrant can help you source them properly.
She Is Gone (He Is Gone)
David Harkins
A widely chosen, plain-speaking poem about choosing love and memory over only grief.
Funeral Blues
W. H. Auden
Powerful and dramatic — often used when loss feels absolute.
If I should die before the rest of you
Joyce Grenfell
Short, honest and unexpectedly light in places.
Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep
Mary Elizabeth Frye
A familiar comfort reading about presence continuing in the natural world.
Into a Brighter Day
Helen Steiner Rice
Gentle and hopeful, often used in more reflective services.
For a Burial / For a Cremation
Ruth Burgess
Contemporary liturgical pieces written specifically for farewell.
A simple way to choose
Let the words earn their place.
Begin with the person
Think about how they spoke, what they believed and whether they preferred simplicity, humour, tradition or something unexpected.
Read it out loud
A poem can feel very different when spoken. Listen for natural pauses, difficult lines and whether the words still sound like your family.
Let it do one job
The reading does not need to explain everything. It might offer comfort, create a moment of stillness or capture one true part of a life.
Common questions
Practical help with the words.
Can our celebrant suggest a poem?
Yes. Tell them about the person, the tone of the ceremony and any themes you want to avoid. A celebrant can offer a small, considered selection rather than leaving you to search through hundreds of readings.
Do we have to use the whole poem?
Not always. A carefully chosen extract may work better in the ceremony, but modern poems can still be protected by copyright. Check that you have permission to reproduce or adapt the words where required.
Can we use song lyrics instead?
Song lyrics can be meaningful, but they are usually protected by copyright. Speak with your celebrant and venue about performance, display or reproduction permissions rather than assuming the words are free to use.
Who should read it?
A relative, friend or the celebrant can read. Choose the person who will feel most comfortable on the day. Your celebrant can keep a copy ready and take over without fuss if needed.
You do not have to choose alone.
A funeral celebrant can help you find words that feel true.