Funeral Poems for Husband

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 still are. 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 shared together. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was, Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of a 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 round the corner. All is well.

— Henry Scott-Holland

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.

— W.H. Auden

Copyright W.H. Auden Estate. Published by Random House.

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.

— Christina Rossetti

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.

— Dylan Thomas

Copyright Dylan Thomas Estate. Published by New Directions.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

— Biblical, NIV

You can shed tears that he is gone Or you can smile because he has lived.

— David Harkins

Copyright David Harkins.

You can shed tears that she is gone, Or you can smile because she has lived.

— David Harkins

Copyright David Harkins. Used with permission in many funeral settings.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear;

— E.E. Cummings

Copyright E.E. Cummings Trust. Published by Liveright Publishing.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 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.

— Biblical, KJV

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

— William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Sonnets

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand'ring bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me prov'd, I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

— William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609)

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

— W.B. Yeats

When I come to the end of the day 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 Maker'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.

— Unknown

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.

— Christina Rossetti

We little knew that morning That God was going to call your name. In life we loved you dearly, In death we do the same.

— Ron Tranmer

Copyright Ron Tranmer.

It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea, But we loved with a love that was more than love — I and my Annabel Lee — With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven Coveted her and me. And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsmen came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea. The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, Went envying her and me — Yes! — that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we — Of many far wiser than we — And neither the angels in Heaven above Nor the demons down under the sea Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling — my darling — my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea — In her tomb by the sounding sea.

— Edgar Allan Poe

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 sunlight 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 circling 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.

— Clare Harner

The life that I have Is all that I have And the life that I have Is yours.

— Leo Marks

Copyright Leo Marks Estate.

When I die Give what's left of me away To children And old men that wait to die.

— Merrit Malloy

Copyright Merrit Malloy.

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow. Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast! Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!

— William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene ii

When I am alone in my room at night, I hear your voice and feel your light. The pillow beside me, empty and cold, But the love we shared will never grow old. You were my world, my heart, my soul, The one who made my life feel whole. And though you've gone beyond my sight, You are my morning, noon and night. I'll carry you with me everywhere, In every breath and every prayer. Until we meet again someday, You're in my heart, and there you'll stay.

— Unknown

The fountains mingle with the river And the rivers with the ocean, The winds of heaven mix for ever With a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single; All things by a law divine In one spirit meet and mingle. Why not I with thine? — See the mountains kiss high heaven And the waves clasp one another; No sister-flower would be forgiven If it disdained its brother; And the sunlight clasps the earth And the moonbeams kiss the sea: What is all this sweet work worth If thou kiss not me?

— Percy Bysshe Shelley

If I be the first of us to die, Let grief not blacken long your sky. Be bold yet modest in your grieving. There is a change but not a leaving.

— Nicholas Evans

Copyright Nicholas Evans Estate.

Without you there's no sunrise, Without you there's no day, Without you there's no laughter, Since you have gone away. Without you there's no evening, No stars up in the sky, Without you there's just emptiness, And all I do is cry. But somewhere deep within my heart Your love still lights the way, And I know we'll be together Again some other day.

— Unknown

You were my rock, my strength, my guide, My shelter from the storm. You were the one who held me close And kept my heart so warm. You were my smile on cloudy days, My laughter and my light. My hand to hold through everything, My morning, noon and night. And though you've gone from here today, Your love remains so true, For everything I am, my love, Is all because of you.

— Unknown

I can't believe you're really gone, My love, my heart, my soul. Without you here, my world has changed, No longer feeling whole.

— Unknown

Modern poem with various attributions.

Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep. I am the thousand winds that blow... Actually, forget that, I'm watching the football.

— Unknown

Walk to the shore where a star's last rays Are shimmering on the waters. Walk, and think of all we shared, The joy, the laughter, the tears. I walked among people, I walked alone, But always I walked with my heart. I knew no other way to walk, I knew no other way to love. And though I leave this life behind, I leave my heart with you. For everything I ever was, I gave it all to you.

— Hannah Szenes