Popular funeral poems (1)
You’ve Just Walked on Ahead of Me ~ Christina Rossetti
Is a message about finding ways to cope with grief
after losing a loved one.
You’ve Just Walked on Ahead of me and I’ve got to understand,
You must release the ones you love, and let go of their hand.
I try and cope the best I can, but I’m missing you so much.
If I could only see you and once more feel your touch.
Yes, you’ve just walked on ahead of me, don’t worry I’ll be fine,
But now and then I swear I feel your hand slip into mine.
Afterglow ~ Helen Lowrie Marshall
Is about happy memories living on after a loved one has gone.
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;
Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.
God Saw You ~ Frances M. Coelho
Is a poem about loved ones finding peace with God in Heaven.
God saw you getting tired, When a cure was not to be.
So He wrapped his arms around you, and whispered, "Come to me".
You didn't deserve what you went through, so He gave you rest.
God's garden must be beautiful, He only takes the best.
And when I saw you sleeping, So peaceful and free from pain,
I could not wish you back to suffer that again.
Because I Love You So ~ Author Unknown
Is a simple but beautiful poem, expressing love through loss.
Time will not dim the face I love,
The voice I heard each day,
The many things you did for me,
In your own special way.
All my life I’ll miss you,
As the years come and go,
But in my heart I’ll keep you,
Because I love you so.
Let Me Go ~ Christina Rossetti
Is an uplifting poem about saying goodbye to a loved one.
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 all must take and each must go alone.
It's all part of the master plan, a step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick at heart, go to the friends we know.
Laugh at all the things we used to do, miss me, but let me go.
I'm There Inside Your Heart ~ Rushifurus Angel
Puts across the feeling of oneness we hope to hold on to with those we have lost.
Right now I’m in a different place and though we seem apart,
I’m closer than I ever was, I’m there inside your heart.
I’m with you when you greet each day and while the sun shines bright.
I’m there to share the sunsets, too, I’m with you every night.
I’m with you when the times are good to share a laugh or two,
And if a tear should start to fall, I’ll still be there for you.
And when that day arrives that we no longer are apart,
I’ll smile and hold you close to me, forever in my heart.
One At Rest ~ AJ Stanley
Is a conversation between your loved one and those that knew him. A reminder to cherish what was and embrace what is.
Think of me as one at rest, for me you should not weep,
I have no pain no troubled thoughts for I am just asleep.
The living thinking me that was, is now forever still,
And life goes on without me now, as time forever will.
If your heart is heavy now because I've gone away,
Dwell not long upon it friend, for none of us can stay.
Those of you who liked me, I sincerely thank you all.
And those of you who loved me, I thank you most of all.
And in my fleeting lifespan, as time went rushing by,
I found some time to hesitate, to laugh, to love, to cry.
Matters it now if time began, if time will ever cease?
I was here, I used it all, and now I am at peace.
When I'm Gone ~ Mosiah Lyman Hancock
Is about remembering your loved one at their best.
When I come to the end of my journey and I travel my last weary mile.
Just forget, if you can, that I ever frowned, and remember only the smile.
Forget unkind words I have spoken; and remember some good I have done.
Forget that I’ve stumbled and blundered and sometimes fell by the way.
Remember I have fought some hard battles and won, ere the close of the day.
Then forget to grieve for my going; I would not have you sad for a day.
But in summer just gather some flowers and remember the place where I lay,
And come in the shade of the evening when the sun paints the sky in the west.
Stand for a few moments beside me and remember only my best.
Dash ~ Linda Ellis
Is a contemplative poem where 'The Dash' represents our life.
I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning to the end.
He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all was The Dash between those years
For that dash represents all the time that they spent alive on earth,
And now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash.
What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our Dash.
So, think about this long and hard, are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real,
And always try to understand the way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more,
And love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile,
Remembering this special Dash might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy is being read with your life's actions to rehash,
Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent Your Dash?
Remember Me ~ Margaret Mead
Is a message of remembrance and love in times of grief.
To the living, I am gone, to the sorrowful, I will never return,
To the angry, I was cheated, but to the happy, I am at peace,
And to the faithful, I have never left.
I cannot speak, but I can listen. I cannot be seen, but I can be heard.
So as you stand upon a shore gazing at a beautiful sea,
As you look upon a flower and admire its simplicity, Remember me.
Remember me in your heart: your thoughts, and your memories,
Of the times we loved, the times we cried,
The times we fought, the times we laughed.
For if you always think of me, I will never have gone.
Do not Stand at my Grave and Weep ~ Mary Elizabeth Frye
Says that the people you love are all around you.
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 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.