Funeral Verses & Written ContentPoems for Funerals

Poems can provide words of comfort and reflection. There are many inspiring funeral poems, from the melancholic and nostalgic to the uplifting and sometimes gently humorous. Finding the right one can seem like a challenge. To help, we have curated a wide selection of bereavement poems for you to browse.

  • Minnie Louise Haskins
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And …

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  • Fred Kaan (1929-2009)
Were the world to end tomorrow, would we plant a tree today? Would we till the soil of loving, kneel to work and rise to pray? Dare we try …

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  • Lord Byron
So, we’ll go no more a roving So late into the night, Though the heart be still as loving, And the moon be still as bright. For the sword …

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  • Michael Ashby
The musical notes stood in lines Discordant in their grief Before regaining their composure As black tears in embossed relief The instruments played this salutation To a musician of note …

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  • Amelia Josephine Burr
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die. I have sent up my gladness on wings, to be lost in the blue of the …

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  • Anonymous
To laugh, is to risk appearing the fool. To weep, is to risk being called sentimental. To reach out to another, is to risk involvement. To expose feelings, …

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  • William Shakespeare
Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: Oh, …

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  • Margaret Mead
To the living, I am gone, To the sorrowful, I wil never return, To the angry, I was cheated, But to the happy, I am at peace, And to …

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  • James Whitcomb Riley
What delightful hosts are they – Life and Love! Lingeringly I turn away, This late hour, yet glad enough They have not withheld from me Their high hospitality. So, with face …

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  • Rupert Brooke
If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich …

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  • Michael Ashby
I’ve always gone with the roll of the dice But now my number’s up And since I’m the one down below There must be six up top I always …

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  • A E Housman
Goodnight; ensured release, Imperishable peace, Have these for yours, While sea abides, and land, And earth’s foundations stand, and heaven endures. When earth’s foundations flee, nor sky nor land nor sea At all …

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  • Ellen Brenneman
Don’t think of him as gone away his journey’s just begun, life holds so many facets this earth is only one. Just think of him as resting from the sorrows …

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  • Christina Rossetti
Come to me in the silence of the night; Come in the speaking silence of a dream; Come with the soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright As …

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  • James Whitcomb Riley
I cannot say, and I will not say That he is dead – . He is just away! With a cheery smile, and a wave of the …

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  • John Keats
O soft embalmer of the still midnight, Shutting, with careful fingers and benign, Our gloom-pleas’d eyes, embower’d from the light, Enshaded in forgetfulness divine: O soothest Sleep! if so …

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  • Christina Rossetti
When I come to the end of the road And the sun has set for me I want no rites in a gloom filled room Why cry for …

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  • Thomas Gray
Here, freed from pain, secure from misery, lies A child, the darling of his parents’ eyes: A gentler lamb ne’er sported on the plain, A fairer flower will …

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  • Michael Ashby
Synapses, lightening forks Neural nets cast aglow My being is no longer earthed As across space I flow Eternally charged with immortal life I feel the pull of people past My …

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  • Michael Ashby
Seabirds dance to Neptune’s beat, and Like moths around a flame Welcome back the fishing fleet Back safe from the catching game In and out, to and fro Rise and …

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  • Helen Lowrie Marshall
I’d like the memory of me to be a happy one. I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done. I’d like to leave …

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  • Clive Saffron
Go gently into the heavenly skies; Dance freely and spread your light. Warm me with the embrace of your wings, From the morning twilight ’til night. Whisper from one …

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  • Anonymous
The first candle represents our grief. The pain of losing you is intense It reminds us of the depth of our love for you. The second candle represents …

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  • Mary Elizabeth Frye
Do not stand at my grave and weep I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints …

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  • 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 …

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  • William Penn
“They that love beyond the world, cannot be separated. Death cannot kill what never dies. Nor can Spirits ever be divided that love and live in the …

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  • John Gillespie Magee
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds, — …

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  • Alfred, Lord Tennyson
I envy not in any moods, The captive void of noble rage, The linnet born within the cage, That never knew the summer woods: I envy not the beast …

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  • James Joyce
At that hour when all things have repose, O lonely watcher of the skies, Do you hear the night wind and the sighs Of harps playing unto Love …

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  • Michael Ashby
I want fireworks at my funeral To brighten up your eyes I want clowns at my funeral To return all your smiles I want dancing at my funeral To help …

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  • Michael Ashby
Death is too negative for me, So I’ll be popping off For a long cup of tea. Do splash out On two bags in the pot, And for my god’s …

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  • Kahlil Gibran
You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life? The owl whose night-bound eyes …

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  • Rosie Waspe
There’s a certain type of quiet In the room wherein you rest A closure of the eyelids and a flutter of the chest The days are slowly fading …

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  • William Shakespeare
Where the bee sucks, there suck I: In a cowslip’s bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry. On the bat’s back I do fly After summer …

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  • Charlotte Bronte
Life, believe, is not a dream So dark as sages say; Oft a little morning rain Foretells a pleasant day. Sometimes there are clouds of gloom, But these are transient …

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  • Frances & Kathleen Ceolho
God saw you getting tired, And a cure was not to be So he put His arms around you And He whispered, ‘Come to me’. With tearful eyes we …

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  • Rita Moran
Please, don’t ask me if I’m over it yet. I’ll never be over it. Please, don’t tell me she’s in a better place. She isn’t with me. Please, don’t …

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  • Bruce Wilmer
The sadness of the present days Is locked and set in time, And moving to the future Is a slow and painful climb. But all the feelings that are …

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  • Simon Bridges
After this day has darkened and gone And I wake to the rest of my life I shall think of the times and the places we saw When …

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  • Anonymous
There is a plan far greater than the plan you know; There is a landscape broader than the one you see. There is a haven where storm–tossed …

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  • Mary Lee Hall
If I should die and leave you here awhile, be not like others, sore undone, who keep long vigils by the silent dust, and weep. For my sake, …

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  • Henry Van Dyke
Time is too slow for those who Wait, Too swift for those who Fear, Too long for those who Grieve, Too short for those who Rejoice, But for those …

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  • Lisa Kitson
Now I am gone, now I am lost to you Find me again just as you used to do: In the house – when you go from …

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  • William Shakespeare
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old …

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  • Clive Saffron
When darkness descends and the shadows fall, You’re my shining beacon, illuminating the way. Love glows from your spirit even after you’ve gone; It’s the light by which …

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  • W R Hearst
The snow melts on the mountain And the water runs down to the spring, And the spring in a turbulent fountain, With a song of youth to sing, Runs …

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  • Nicholas Evans
  If I be the first of us to die, Let grief not blacken long your sky. Be bold yet modest in your grieving. There is a change but …

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  • D H Lawrence
I Now it is autumn and the falling fruit and the long journey towards oblivion. The apples falling like great drops of dew to bruise themselves an exit from …

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  • Anonymous
Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free, I’m following the path God laid for me. I took his hand when I heard his call, I turned my …

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  • Anonymous
I should like to send you a sunbeam, or the twinkle of some bright star, or a tiny piece of the downy fleece that clings to a cloud …

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  • Emily Dickinson
Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality. We slowly drove, He knew no haste, And I had …

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  • 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 …

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  • Michael Ashby
I am not gone, while you cry with me I am not gone, while you smile with me I am not gone, while you remember with me I …

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  • Anonymous
You can shed tears that she is gone or you can smile because she has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back or …

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  • Summer Sandercox
Not how did he die, but how did he live? Not what did he gain, but what did he give? These are the units to measure the …

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  • Edgar Albert Guest
I will lend you, for a little time, A child of mine, He said. For you to love the while he lives, And mourn for when he’s dead. It …

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  • Michael Ashby
The sailor cast off the mortal coil As the voyage of a lifetime was hatched And the astral yacht blew off the Beaufort scale At a speed no …

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  • Robert Burns
An honest man here lies at rest, The friend of man, the friend of truth, The friend of age, and guide of youth: Few hearts like his, with …

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  • Hartley Coleridge
She pass’d away like morning dew Before the sun was high; So brief her time, she scarcely knew The meaning of a sigh. As round the rose its soft …

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  • Walter Rinder
The rays of light filtered through The sentinels of trees this morning. I sat in the garden and contemplated. The serenity and beauty Of my feelings and surroundings Completely captivated …

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  • James Tipp
Life is always ahead, exciting and full of adventure. What has been lives on in the memories of those with whom we have shared our love. Memories that …

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  • Pete’s Dragon, Walt Disney
I’ll be your candle on the water My love for you will always burn I know you’re lost and drifting But the clouds are lifting Don’t give up, you …

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  • Anonymous
When I must leave you for a while Please do not grieve and shed wild tears And hug your sorrow to you through the years But start out …

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  • Sara Teasdale
Perhaps if Death is kind, and there can be returning, We will come back to earth some fragrant night, And take these lanes to find the sea, …

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  • Anonymous
I give you this one thought to keep – I am with you still, I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the …

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  • Asa James
On a day of rain when you sit indoors By the fire with a book, as I loved to do, And the storm wind roars Think of me …

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  • Michael Ashby
It’s my turn now to be planted Put out to seed again While the fruits of my earthly labours Flourish in the sun and rain It’s a wonderful day …

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  • Lucretius
Departed comrade! Thou, redeemed from pain Shall sleep the sleep that kings desire in vain: Not thine the sense of loss But lo, for us the void That never …

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  • Anonymous
God looked around his garden- And found an empty place, He then looked down upon the earth- And saw your tired face. He put his arms around you- And lifted …

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  • William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath …

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  • Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus …

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  • Anonymous
If tears could build a stairway And memories were a lane I would walk right up to heaven And bring you back again No farewell words were spoken No time …

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  • E E Cummings
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my …

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  • Sir Walter Raleigh
Even such is time, that takes in trust Our youth, our joys, and all we have, And pays us but with earth and dust; Who in the dark …

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  • Henry van Dyke
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object …

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  • Isla Paschal Richardson
If I should ever leave you whom I love To go along the Silent Way, Grieve not, Nor speak of me with tears, But laugh and talk of me …

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  • George Elliot
O May I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence: live In pulses stirr’d to generosity, In deeds …

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  • Rabindranath Tagore
It was beautiful as long as it lasted The journey of my life. I have no regrets whatsoever Save the pain I’ll leave behind. Those dear hearts who love …

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  • Mary Oliver
Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean- the one who has flung herself out of the …

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  • John Donne
Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so, For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor …

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  • 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 …

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  • Anne Bradstreet
“If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me, …

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  • W H 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, …

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  • John Keats
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and …

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  • Michael Ashby
Weeping willows formed an honour guard For the cricket ball writ with a noble name A team of ten, which had once been eleven Would never be the …

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  • Anonymous
They do not leave, they are not gone They look upon us still They walk among the valleys now They stride upon the hill. Their smile is in the …

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  • Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise …

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  • Henry Scott Holland
Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, …

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  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out …

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  • Percy Bysshe Shelley
Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory – Odours, when sweet violets sicken, Live within the sense they quicken. Rose leaves, when the rose is dead, Are …

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  • Anonymous
Feel no guilt in laughter, He’d know how much you care. Feel no sorrow in a smile That he’s not here to share. You cannot grieve forever; He would not …

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  • Clive Saffron
All around us your presence is palpable, Ever shining a bright ray of light. For love radiates from your soul endlessly; In its warmth I bask by day …

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