A selection of popular funeral poems

The choice of poem to include in a funeral service is an intensely personal decision. Sometimes a bespoke poem is the perfect way to represent a departed loved one, but there are several funeral poems which are extremely popular.

Please feel free to browse this selection either to find the perfect poem or for inspiration for a bespoke verse.

Popular funeral poem based on a short verse by David Harkins. An uplifting poem about being grateful for a loved one’s life.

She Is Gone (He Is Gone)
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.

This poem of grief for a woman’s death was written by Oliver Wright in remembrance of his own mother, but the beautiful words make it an appropriate elegy for the funeral or memorial service of any woman who has died.

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.
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 trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well.

A moving remembrance funeral poem celebrating the love that lives on in your heart after a loved one is gone.

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.

The following funeral poems have all proved popular in amongst the families we have cared for.

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 for long.
And not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that once we shared.
Miss me, but let me go.
For this is a journey we must all take,
And each must go alone.
It’s all part of the master plan,
A step on the road to home.

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 same easy way which you always did,
Put no difference into 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 the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect, without the shadow of a ghost on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was; there is absolutely unbroken continuity,
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am just waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well.

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 an echo
whispering softly down the ways,
of happy times and laughing times
and bright and sunny days.

I’d like the tears of those who grieve,
to dry before the sun.
It’s happy memories I leave you, my friends,
when my life is done.

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 heart's will treasure.

Feel no guilt in laughter, he’d know how much you care.
Feel no sorrow in a smile that he is not here to share.

You cannot grieve forever; he would not want you to.
He’d hope that you could carry on the way you always do.

So, talk about the good times and the way you showed you cared,
The days you spent together, all the happiness you shared.

Let memories surround you, a word someone may say
Will suddenly recapture a time, an hour or a day,

That brings him back as clearly as though he were still here,
And fills you with the feeling that he is always near.

For if you keep those moments, you will never be apart
And he will live forever locked safely within your heart.