14 Popular Funeral Poems Just For You. • Funeral Poems & Eulogies

Below I have given you 14 of the most popular funeral poems that please feel free to use.

However, I want you to consider a few important facts that you should seriously consider before you select one.

The funeral poems below are used by over 90% of the population of the world.

Q. Why do people use them then?

A. I believe that people find themselves in a state of grief and just want to pick something to use quickly and then move on.

Q. What is wrong with that?

A. The reason why I built this site (and you can read My Story Here) was that, like you, following the passing of my mother I found the popular and free funeral poems. But when I discovered the state, as above, I didn’t want to be the same.

I wanted to say some words that truly reflected the individual and unique relationship I had with my Mum. I wanted the words to be memorable and truly impress.

Q. What did you do?

A. I spent years putting a list of over 250 funeral poems together, which has some rarely used little gems. I also give some invaluable advice on all matters regarding eulogies.

Q. How can I have a look at it?

A. Click Here to have a look

Q. How much does it cost?

A. Well at the moment I am giving a 60% discount and will cost £15.00. Whats that a couple of coffees?

Just Click Here to have a look and if it’s not for you then you can select one of the poems below.

Table of Contents

1. Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep – 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 on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.

2. The Parting Glance

Of all the money that e’er I spent
I’ve spent it in good company
And all the harm that ever I did
Alas it was to none but me
And all I’ve done for want of wit
To memory now I can’t recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
If I had money enough to spend
And leisure to sit awhile
There is a fair maid in the town
That sorely has my heart beguiled

Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips
I own she has my heart enthralled
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Oh, all the comrades that e’er I had
They’re sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e’er I had
They’d wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I’ll gently rise and softly call
Good night and joy be with you all

3. Funeral Blues – 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, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘He is Dead’.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

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.

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.

4. Life Goes On – Joyce Grenfell

If I should go before the rest of you
Break not a flower
Nor inscribe a stone
Nor when I am 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

5. To Sleep – 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 it please thee, close

In midst of this, thine hymn my willing eyes,

Or wait the “Amen,” ere thy poppy throws

Around my bed its lulling charities.

Then save me, or the passed day will shine

Upon my pillow, breeding many woes,—

Save me from curious Conscience, that still lords

Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;

Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards,

And seal the hushed Casket of my Soul.

6. When I am Dead – 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.

7. 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 plann’d:

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.

8. If I Should Go Tomorrow –Unknown

If I should go tomorrow
It would never be goodbye,
For I have left my heart with you,
So don’t you ever cry.
The love that’s deep within me,
Shall reach you from the stars,
You’ll feel it from the heavens,
And it will heal the scars.

9. Remember me – David Harkins

Do not shed tears when I have gone but smile instead because I have lived. Do not shut your eyes and pray to God that I’ll come back but open your eyes and see all that I have left behind. I know your heart will be empty because you cannot see me but still I want you to be full of the love we shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and live only for yesterday or you can be happy for tomorrow because of what happened between us yesterday. You can remember me and grieve that I have gone or you can cherish my memory and let it live on. You can cry and lose yourself, become distraught and turn your back on the world or you can do what I want – smile, wipe away the tears, learn to love again and go on.

10. Death is Nothing At All – Henry Scott-Holland

Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

11. Don’t Be Too Sad – Unknown

I’ve lived my life

I’ve tried my best

The memories I hold dear

Are experiences I have known

Of happiness and tears

The love of my family

The care of my friends

The good times I’ve shared

Right to the end

I’ve traveled life’s byways

Seen children grow up

Experienced life’s living

And drunk from love’s cup

I leave you with memories

With thoughts of you all

I’m no longer with you

But your mind will recall

The good times we shared

The laughter we had

Please cherish these memories

And don’t be too sad.

12. Happy the Man by John Dryden

Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own:
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair or foul or rain or shine
The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

13. William Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality

What though the radiance which was once so bright

Be now forever taken from my sight,

Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;

We will grieve not, rather find

Strength in what remains behind

14. Away – James Whitcomb Riley (1849 – 1916)

If needed, you can change ‘she’ to ‘he’ in this poem.

I cannot say and I will not say

That she is dead, she is just away.

With a cheery smile and a wave of a hand

She has wandered into an unknown land;

And left us dreaming how very fair

Its needs must be since she lingers there.

And you-oh you, who the wildest yearn

From the old-time step and the glad return-

Think of her faring on, as dear

In the love of there, as the love of here

Think of her still the same way, I say;

She is not dead, she is just away.