Choosing a poem for a funeral is one of the most personal decisions you'll make during an already difficult time. The right words can reflect something true about the person who has died, offer comfort to those gathered, and give the service a moment that stays with everyone for years. This collection brings together 20 funeral poems — from beloved classics to lesser-known pieces — organised by mood and occasion, so you can find the right fit without having to search too widely.
There are no rules. A poem doesn't have to be famous to be meaningful, and it doesn't have to be solemn to fit a funeral. The best choice is simply the one that sounds like the person being remembered.
Beloved classics
These are the poems that appear at funerals across the UK year after year — not because they're conventional, but because they keep working.
1. Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep — Mary Elizabeth Frye (1932)
Probably the most-requested funeral poem in the English language. Written by an American housewife who never published poetry before or after, it has resonated with people of all faiths and none for nearly a century. Its central idea — that the person who has died lives on in the wind, the rain, and the light — offers comfort without requiring any particular belief.
Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there; I do not sleep.
It reads beautifully aloud and suits almost any service.
2. Remember — Christina Rossetti (1849)
This Victorian sonnet asks to be remembered — but then, movingly, gives permission to forget if remembering brings pain. That generosity makes it feel like a gift from the person who has died. It works well for a spouse, a close friend, or a parent.
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.
3. Funeral Blues — W. H. Auden (1938)
Made famous in the UK by Four Weddings and a Funeral, this poem captures the raw disorientation of grief with an honesty that few other verses match. It doesn't offer comfort — it offers recognition. That can be exactly what's needed. It's best suited to a life partner or someone who was another person's entire world.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest.
4. Death, Be Not Proud — John Donne (1633)
A defiant sonnet that refuses to be afraid of death, arguing that it has no real power over us. It suits a service with a religious element, or a tribute to someone who faced illness or death with courage. The final couplet — Death, thou shalt die — is one of the most memorable lines in English poetry.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so...
5. Crossing the Bar — Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1889)
Tennyson wrote this poem shortly before his own death and asked that it appear at the end of all his collections. Its maritime imagery — setting out to sea at evening, crossing the sandbar — speaks of a peaceful passage. It's short enough to work as an opening or closing poem, and sits naturally within a religious or spiritual service.
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.
Short poems that are easy to read aloud
On the day of a funeral, the person reading may be struggling. Short poems with plain language are not lesser — sometimes they're exactly right, and they ask less of someone already holding a great deal.
6. She Is Gone / He Is Gone — David Harkins (1981)
One of the most widely read funeral poems in the UK. Written in 1981, it has an immediately comforting quality — it gently shifts attention from loss to everything the person gave those around them.
You can shed tears that she is gone,
Or you can smile because she lived.
The alternate he/she versions make it practical for any service, and it's short enough that even someone very emotional can manage to read it aloud.
7. Miss Me, But Let Me Go — anonymous
The author is unknown, but this poem has been a fixture at UK funerals for decades. It asks to be grieved — and then released. That spirit of generosity, as though the words come from the person who has died, gives it a lasting quality.
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?
8. Turn Again to Life — Mary Lee Hall (1918)
A quiet poem that asks those left behind to keep living fully. It's particularly apt for someone who loved life and would have wanted laughter at their funeral as much as tears.
If I should die and leave you here a while,
Be not like others, sore undone, who keep
Long vigils by the silent dust and weep.
9. High Flight — John Gillespie Magee Jr. (1941)
Written by a young RAF pilot just months before he was killed in action at 19, this poem belongs naturally to any service honouring someone with a connection to aviation, the armed forces, or the open sky. The final line — put out my hand and touched the face of God — gives it a reach beyond any single denomination.
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.
10. The Bustle in a House — Emily Dickinson (1866)
Dickinson captures something that few other poems do — the particular quality of a house the morning after a death, and the way ordinary life quietly resumes when everything has changed. It's short, spare, and precisely true.
The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth.
Comforting and uplifting poems
Not every funeral poem needs to stay in sadness. These selections offer something closer to reassurance — a sense that love continues, that memory endures, that the person who has died remains close in some form.
11. We Remember Them — Sylvan Kamens and Jack Riemer
Originally written for Jewish mourning services, this poem has found its way into services of every tradition because of its gentle, repeated refrain. It moves through the seasons and everyday moments, finding the person who has died in each one. It works especially well as a shared reading, with those gathered joining in on the refrain.
At the rising sun and at its going down, we remember them.
At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, we remember them.
12. What Is Dying? — Bishop Charles Henry Brent
This prose poem uses the image of a ship sailing out of sight — not lost, simply gone beyond the horizon. It's a beautiful metaphor for those who want to express a belief in continuity after death, without being tied to any specific tradition. Brent was an Episcopalian bishop, but the poem has travelled far beyond any denomination.
13. Requiem — Robert Louis Stevenson (1887)
Written by Stevenson as his own epitaph, and later inscribed on his grave in Samoa. Short, calm, without a trace of self-pity — a poem from someone who faced death with acceptance and even gratitude. It makes a powerful final reading.
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.
14. Those We Love Don't Go Away — anonymous
Direct, short, and genuinely comforting. This poem offers the idea that the people we love remain close — in the work of our hands, in our laughter, in the memories we carry. It's a particularly good choice for a parent, grandparent, or anyone who poured their love into a family.
Those we love don't go away,
They walk beside us every day,
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed and very dear.
15. An Irish Blessing — traditional
Technically a blessing rather than a poem, but it's read at funerals across the UK and Ireland with great frequency. Warm, brief, and leaves a room with a sense of light rather than darkness. It works especially well as the final words of a service.
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall soft upon your fields.
For a less traditional service
Sometimes the person being remembered doesn't fit the mould, and the service shouldn't either. These poems work well at humanist funerals, outdoor ceremonies, or services where the family wants something that reflects a specific personality.
16. Warning — Jenny Joseph (1961)
The famous "purple" poem. If the person who died had a mischievous streak or was known for living life on their own terms, this is a natural choice. It reliably produces a laugh, often followed by tears — and that combination can be exactly what a room full of grieving people needs to breathe again.
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
17. The Peace of Wild Things — Wendell Berry (1968)
A meditative poem about finding rest in nature — in heron, in water, in a darkness that doesn't ask questions. It's less well known than others on this list, but it has a quiet power that suits someone with a deep love of the outdoors, the countryside, or the natural world.
18. Dirge Without Music — Edna St. Vincent Millay (1928)
An honest, unsentimental poem that refuses to dress up death. Millay says plainly that she is not resigned — and that resistance to loss is itself a form of love. For those who find false comfort grating, this poem tells the truth without flinching.
I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind.
19. Epitaph on a Friend — Robert Burns (1786)
Burns wrote this eight-line poem for a friend who died young. It's direct and unpretentious — no grand metaphysics, just a plain statement of love and admiration. Burns's ability to speak plainly about feeling is what makes his work endure, and this short piece carries that quality throughout.
An honest man here lies at rest,
As e'er God with his image blest;
The friend of man, the friend of truth,
The friend of age, and guide of youth.
20. No Coward Soul Is Mine — Emily Brontë (1846)
Emily Brontë wrote this as her last poem, and it has the feel of something written in full knowledge of what is coming. Defiant and deeply spiritual, it's a refusal to be afraid. It suits someone with strong convictions, or any service where the person being remembered faced death on their own terms.
No coward soul is mine,
No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere:
I see Heaven's glories shine,
And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.
Practical tips for choosing and reading a poem
Match the poem to the person, not the occasion
The best funeral poem is the one that sounds like something the person who died might have chosen themselves, or that captures something genuinely true about who they were. Don't feel bound by what seems expected.
Read it aloud before the service
What reads naturally on paper can feel very different when spoken aloud under emotional pressure. Practise the poem several times so you know where the pauses fall and which lines need to slow down.
It's fine to ask someone else to read it
If you want a particular poem but aren't sure you'll hold it together, ask a friend or family member to read it on your behalf. There's no shame in that — it's a funeral, not a performance.
Think about where the poem sits in the service
A poem at the beginning sets a tone; one near the end offers a closing thought. Some families include two poems — something quieter early on, and something more uplifting or defiant towards the close. If you're also writing a bereavement card or preparing spoken tributes, the poem can complement those words rather than repeat them.
Keeping their memory alive after the service
A funeral is a single day — important and unrepeatable — but memory lasts far longer. Many families find that gathering the poems, photographs, and tributes from a service into one place gives them somewhere to return to when they want to feel close.
If you're preparing a written tribute alongside the funeral, our guide to writing a meaningful obituary can help you find the right words in prose. And if you need help expressing your sympathy to others, the collection of condolence messages offers practical guidance for what to say when it's hardest to know where to start.
If you'd like to create an online memorial for someone you love, Memoriance lets you build a lasting tribute — keeping the poems, photographs, and stories from the service in one place that the whole family can visit and add to over the years, for the price of a bouquet of flowers.