If you're planning your father's memorial service and looking for the right poem — one that sounds like him, or says what you haven't quite found words for — this collection is for you. These 18 readings are organised by mood and type of service, so you can find the one that fits your dad and the occasion.
There are no wrong choices. A short verse read with feeling carries more than a longer poem delivered nervously. The best poem is the one that, when you read it back, makes you think: yes, that's him.
Poems about the man he was
These readings work when you want to honour your father's character — what he stood for, how he showed up, the kind of man he was.
1. "If—" by Rudyard Kipling (1910)
Kipling wrote this as a father's advice to his son. At a memorial service, it often reverses beautifully — becoming a tribute to the dad who actually lived those qualities. If your father was steady, principled, and quietly strong, these lines will feel like they belong to him.
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise...
The poem runs to four stanzas and closes with the lines most people know: "Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, / And — which is more — you'll be a Man, my son!"
Best read by: a child as a direct tribute. Works well as the centrepiece of a service.
2. "Death is Nothing at All" by Henry Scott Holland (1910)
Originally a sermon extract, this is one of the most-read pieces at UK funerals. It speaks to the idea that the person who died has only stepped into the next room — close, present, still part of the family. It works at almost any service, religious or not.
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 which you always used.
Put no difference in 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.
Let it be spoken without effect, without the ghost of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
Somewhere very near, just round the corner.
All is well.
Best read by: anyone. Ideal when the family wants comfort without heaviness.
3. "He Is Gone" by David Harkins
Probably the most-requested poem at UK funerals. You'll recognise the opening: "You can shed tears that he is gone, / Or you can smile because he lived." It offers a choice — how you want to carry the loss — which makes it especially fitting when different family members are at very different places in their grief. This poem is still in copyright; searching the title returns the full text immediately.
Best for: any service. Works in a church, a crematorium, or at the graveside.
4. "Remember" by Christina Rossetti (1849)
A Victorian sonnet that opens as a request to be remembered — then gently lets the mourner off the hook. Rossetti's final lines are quietly liberating: better to forget and be happy than to remember and be sad. Clear-eyed and tender.
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 cheer.
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.
5. "Requiem" by Robert Louis Stevenson (1887)
Eight lines that Stevenson wrote as his own epitaph. The final two — Home is the sailor, home from sea, / And the hunter home from the hill — are among the most-used closing words in the funeral canon. Quietly triumphant. Works well read alone or as a final line after a eulogy.
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.
For non-religious services
If your father's service is a civil or humanist ceremony, or he wasn't religious, these readings sit naturally without any faith content. The broader collection of funeral poems for any kind of service includes further options organised by mood.
6. "Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep" by Mary Elizabeth Frye (1932)
One of the most widely read funeral poems in the world. It repositions grief — the person you love is now everywhere, in wind, light, morning. The copyright status has been debated over the years, but the poem is freely available online; a quick search returns the full text. A natural choice for any service, and particularly moving at an outdoor or graveside ceremony.
7. "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas (1951)
Thomas wrote this while his father was dying, and the refrain — rage, rage against the dying of the light — is unlike anything else in the funeral canon. Where most poems are gentle, this one is fierce. Read it if your dad fought hard, loved life stubbornly, or if you want to honour someone who didn't go quietly. This poem entered the public domain in the UK at the start of 2024.
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 men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
8. "When I Am Gone" by Joyce Grenfell
A gentle, slightly humorous poem that firmly refuses sadness — no flowers, no sad hymns, just memories of good times. It has a lightness that feels genuinely comforting, especially if your dad had a sense of humour about these things. Still in copyright; searching the title returns the full text easily.
Best for: dads who would have wanted to make people smile at their own memorial.
9. "Gone from My Sight" by Henry Van Dyke (c. 1905)
Van Dyke's meditation uses the image of a ship sailing away: from where you stand, you watch it get smaller until it disappears over the horizon. But on the other side, it's arriving in full sail, greeted by those already there. Hopeful without relying on religious language.
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says: "There, she is gone!"
Gone where? Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: "Here she comes!"
10. "Crossing the Bar" by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1889)
Written by Tennyson at 80, knowing he was near the end. The image is crossing the sandbar at the harbour mouth — a calm, accepting journey towards what lies beyond. Uses some spiritual language but works well at any service that wants something stately and classical.
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.
Poems with a personal feel
These poems are shorter and more intimate — often the right choice when someone in the family wants to speak but doesn't feel ready to write a full eulogy. They work in any setting.
11. "Miss Me, But Let Me Go" (author unknown)
A poem that asks those left behind not to grieve too long — to get on with living, because that's what the person who died would want. Practical and warm, and short enough to read without losing composure.
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 your 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 sorrows in doing good deeds.
Miss me — but let me go.
12. "The Dash" by Linda Ellis
The dash on a gravestone between the birth year and the death year — what it represents, how it was filled. Ellis's poem asks what a person did with the time between. Still in copyright, but the full text is freely available on the poet's website and widely reproduced. A reading that prompts reflection rather than tears.
13. A tribute reading: "He Showed Up"
Sometimes the most personal tribute is the simplest one. Many families write a few lines themselves, or adapt an anonymous verse — something that names the specific qualities of the man. This kind of short, plain reading often moves people more than a famous poem, because it sounds true. If you're considering writing something yourself, thinking through what your dad actually meant to you can help before you put pen to paper.
For services with a faith element
These readings work in churches, chapels, and at services with a Christian or broadly spiritual tradition.
14. Psalm 23 (King James Version)
The most recognised scripture reading at funerals. Even those who aren't religious often know it — the rhythm alone is calming. The KJV version is worth choosing for the weight of its language.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
15. "God's Garden" by Dorothy Frances Gurney (1913)
If your father loved the outdoors, these final four lines from Gurney's poem carry a particular resonance. Often quoted at graveside services, and sometimes written on garden memorials.
The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's Heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on Earth.
16. Romans 8:38–39 (King James Version)
Two sentences that say nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God. Often read as the closing statement at a religious service, and works particularly well paired with a poem or after a eulogy.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
17. "His Journey's Just Begun" by Ellen Brenneman
A poem of Christian comfort: the person who has died hasn't left, they've simply gone ahead on a journey you'll all complete. Widely used in hospice settings and at the funerals of elderly parents. The full text is freely available across bereavement and funeral guidance sites.
18. "God Saw You Getting Tired" (author unknown)
A gentle piece often used when a father died after a long illness or difficult end of life. It frames death as a merciful rest rather than a loss, and tends to comfort families who watched their dad struggle. Search the title to find the full text.
How to choose
If you're struggling, read the poem out loud by yourself first. The one that makes you pause — or makes it harder to get to the end — is usually the right one. That pause means it's true to him.
Most services include one or two poems alongside the eulogy and any music. If you're still working on the eulogy, it can help to read about the experience of grieving a parent — not to copy, but to put words to what you're feeling before you write. And if you want to pair a poem with music, our collection of funeral songs covers everything from traditional hymns to modern choices your dad might have loved.
If you'd like a place where these poems, photos, and memories of your dad can live permanently — somewhere family and friends can return to over the years — Memoriance lets you create a memorial page that lasts forever, for the price of a bouquet of flowers.