Introduction

As a funeral celebrant, when I sit down with loved ones to plan a funeral or celebration of life, I encourage them to consider how they want attendees to feel.

It’s never about a “one size fits all” ceremony; it’s always about shaping something that feels warm, thoughtful, and truly reflective of the person we’re remembering.

Readings and poems can play a quietly powerful role in that. The right words have a way of saying what can feel too big, too complex, or too raw to express in our own words, offering comfort, connection, or humour.

Why Funeral Poems and Readings Matter

• Bring comfort during grief
• Reflect someone’s humour or warmth
• Create moments of hope and connection
• Help people process loss together
• Honour a life in a personal way

Whether traditional or contemporary, spiritual or simple, there is a reading that will suit everyone and here are some of my favourite lesser-known ones.

Selected Funeral Poems and Readings

Funeral: Rupi Kaur

When I go from this place
dress the porch with garlands
as you would for a wedding, my dear
pull the people from their homes
and dance in the streets
when death arrives
like a bride at the aisle
send me off in my brightest clothing
serve ice cream with rose petals to our guests
there’s no reason to cry, my dear
I have waited my whole life
for such beauty to take
my breath away
when I go, let it be a celebration
for I have been here
I have lived
I have won at this game called life

The following words are taken from the book “My Country and My People” by Lin Yutang

I like spring, but it is too young.
I like summer, but it is too proud.
So I like best of all autumn,
because its leaves are a little yellow,
it’s tone mellower, it’s colours richer, and it is tinged a little with sorrow…

Its golden richness speaks not of the innocence of spring, nor of the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and is content.

Let Me Go: 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 a soul set free?
Miss me a little – but not too long
And not with you head bowed low.
Remember the love that we once shared.
Miss me but let me go.
For this is a journey that we all must take
And each must go alone.
It’s all a part of the Master’s plan,
a step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick of heart, go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrow in doing good deeds.
Miss me – but let me go.

Blossoms are scattered by the wind: Yoshida Kenko

Blossoms are scattered by the wind
And the wind cares nothing.
But the blossoms of the heart,
No wind can touch
And when a friend has left us
For another country and is no longer seen
Her beloved presence still lives in memory.

If I Should Go: Joyce Grenfell

If I should go before the rest of you
Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone
Nor when I’m gone speak in a Sunday voice
But be the usual selves that I have known
Weep if you must
Parting is Hell
But life goes on
So sing as well.

The Joy of Living: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger

Take me to some high place of heather, rock and ling
Scatter my dust and ashes, feed me to the wind
So that I may be part of all you see, the air you are breathing
I’ll be part of the curlew’s cry and the soaring hawk,
The blue milkwort and the sundew hung with diamonds
I’ll be riding the gentle breeze as it blows through your hair
Reminding you how we shared in the joy of living

Roads Go Ever On: J. R. R. Tolkien

Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
Roads go ever ever on,
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone,
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen,
And horror in the halls of stone,
Look at last on meadows green,
And trees and hills they long have known.
Roads go ever on and on,
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet,
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening rest and sleep to meet.

Farewell, Sweet Dust: Elinor Wylie

Now I have lost you, I must scatter
All of you on the air henceforth;
Not that it can ever matter to me
Buy it’s only fair to the rest of the earth.
Now especially, when it is winter
And the sun’s not half so bright as he was,
Who wouldn’t be glad to find a splinter
That once was you in the frozen grass?
Snowflakes, too, will be softer feathered,
Clouds, perhaps, will be whiter plumed;
Rain, whose brilliance you caught and gathered,
Purer silver have reassumed.
Farewell, sweet dust; I never was a miser:
Once, for a minute, I made you mine:
Now you are gone, I am none the wiser
But the leaves of the willow are as bright as wine.

Intimations of Immortality: William Wordsworth

What though the radiance which was once so bright~
Be now forever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind.

Life Well Lived: Author Unknown

A life well lived is a precious gift,
of hope and strength and grace,
from someone who has made our world
a brighter, better place.
It’s filled with moments, sweet and sad
with smiles and sometimes tears,
with friendships formed and good times shared,
and laughter through the years.
A life well lived is a legacy,
of joy and pride and pleasure,
a living, lasting memory
our grateful hearts will treasure.

Something Beautiful Remains: Author Unknown

The tide recedes but leaves behind
bright seashells on the sand.
The sun goes down, but gentle
warmth still lingers on the land.
The music stops, and yet it echoes
on in sweet refrains…
For every joy that passes, something beautiful remains.

This piece was written 1500 years ago by the classical Sanskrit writer Kalidasa

Look to this day for it is life,
The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the realities
And truths of existence;
The joy of growth,
The splendour of action,
The glory of power.
For yesterday is but a memory,
And tomorrow is only a vision.
But today well lived makes every
Yesterday a memory of happiness.
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

To Those Whom I Love & Those Who Love Me :Author Unknown

Look well, therefore, to this day.
To Those Whom I Love & Those Who Love Me
When I am gone, release me, let me go.
I have so many things to see and do,
You mustn’t tie yourself to me with too many tears,
But be thankful we had so many good years.
I gave you my love, and you can only guess
How much you’ve given me in happiness.
I thank you for the love that you have shown,
But now it is time I travelled on alone.
So grieve for me a while, if grieve you must,
Then let your grief be comforted by trust.
It is only for a while that we must part,
So treasure the memories within your heart.
I won’t be far away for life goes on.
And if you need me, call and I will come.
Though you can’t see or touch me, I will be near.
And if you listen with your heart, you’ll hear,
All my love around you soft and clear.
And then, when you come this way alone,
I’ll greet you with a smile and a ‘Welcome Home’.

I Am Not Gone: R.K. Nightingale

I am not gone.
Not really.
I haven’t left you, not in the ways that truly matter.
Close your eyes, and you will find me there, in the way your heart still knows mine.
In all the things that make us–us.
I have not gone too far. I am just beyond the veil of what you can see. It’s what’s absence after all, but a trick of the eye?
I am not where you can reach anymore, but I am where you can remember.
Do not let grief turn my name into something heavy.
Something you can’t speak without feeling the weight of loss in your chest.
Let my name stay light.
Say it as you always did, with ease and familiarity.
You don’t have to move on from me, just move forward with me.
I mean, I was just right here.
Right next to you.
Don’t pack me away in boxes of sorrow, not yet.
Speak of me like I’m still sitting beside you, like I never left, like I never could.
Let my name live on in the moments when you laugh, when you love again.
You don’t have to let me go; just carry me differently.
Lightly.
Gently.
With the same tenderness that one’s held my hand.
And when the weight of missing me feels unbearable, when you reach for me in places I no longer fill, remember this – I am not gone. I am still here, just not in the way I once was.

The Stars Have Called You Home: Donna Ashworth

The stars have called you home, love.
Up high, so far away.
I think they missed your brilliance,
they just couldn’t let you stay.
You’ve shone that light of yours, love.
on all the lives you touched.
We’ve known your joy for years and years,
I guess they thought ‘enough.’
They need your light up there now.
This world grows ever dark.
Your passion will rain down like love,
dripped into every heart.
The stars have called you home, now.
we’ll miss you, every day.
And every night we’ll scour the skies,
to watch you, where you lay.
And when dark clouds are gathering,
and air’s too cold to breathe.
The life you lived will warm our bones,
and your star will help us see.

After I Have Gone: Vera Arlett

Speak my name softly after I have gone.
I loved the quiet things, the flowers and the dew,
Field mice; birds homing; and the frost that shone
On nursery windows when my years were few;
And Autumn mists subduing hill and plain
And blurring outlines of those older moods
That follow, after loss and grief and pain –
And last and best, a gentle laugh with friends,
All bitterness foregone, and evening near.
If we be kind and faithful when day ends,
We shall not meet that ragged starveling “fear”
As one by one we take the unknown way –
Speak my name softly – there’s no more to say.

Blessing for the Broken Hearted: There is no remedy for love but to love more -; Henry David Thoreau

Let us agree
for now
that we will not say
the breaking
makes us stronger
or that it is better
to have this pain
than to have done
without this love.
Let us promise
we will not
tell ourselves
time will heal
the wound
when every day
our waking
opens it anew.
Perhaps for now
it can be enough
to simply marvel
at the mystery
of how a heart
so broken
can go on beating,
as if it were made
for precisely this—
as if it knows
the only cure for love
is more of it
as if it sees
the heart’s sole remedy
for breaking
is to love still
as if it trusts
that its own stubborn
and persistent pulse
is the rhythm
of a blessing
we cannot
begin to fathom
but will save us
nonetheless.

Most importantly, Love: Rupi Kaur

most importantly love
like it’s the only thing you know how
at the end of the day, all this
means nothing
this page
where you’re sitting
your degree
your job
the money
nothing even matters
except love and human connection
who you loved
and how deeply you loved them
how you touched the people around you
and how much you gave them

She Is Gone: David Harkin

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 will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her
Or you can be full of the love that you shared
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday
You can remember her, and only that she is gone
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

Don’t miss me more than once a day: Donna Ashworth

Don’t miss me more than once a day,
For life is moving fast.
Don’t wish all of your time away,
Dreaming of the past.
Don’t waste the moment looking at,
The things I left behind me.
I’m not there anymore my love,
Your heart is where you’ll find me.
Don’t dread to say my name, sweet one,
Don’t fear the wrath of sadness.
Just take the love you had for me,
And turn it into gladness.
Some days your anger will rush out,
Your tears will find their way.
To me, wherever I am then,
I’ll soothe them all away.
When I am gone don’t miss me more,
Than once, or twice a day.
There’s so much life to live, my love.
I’m with you, all the way.