Funeral poems: well-loved readings, religious and not
Short answer
Poems that appear on most funeral lists include Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep (Mary Elizabeth Frye), Death Is Nothing at All (Henry Scott Holland), Remember (Christina Rossetti), Crossing the Bar (Tennyson), Funeral Blues (W. H. Auden) and She Is Gone (He Is Gone) (David Harkins). Choose one that sounds like the person, and that the reader can get through: 1–2 minutes aloud is plenty.
A poem gives words to what is hard to say in your own. It can be read by the celebrant or minister, or by a family member or friend who wants to take part without writing a eulogy. Below are the poems that appear most often in UK funeral directors' and publishers' lists, grouped by mood.
Comforting: “don't grieve too long”
| Poem | Poet | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Death Is Nothing at All | Henry Scott Holland (1910 sermon) | Gentle and conversational; out of copyright |
| Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep | Mary Elizabeth Frye (1932) | The best-known funeral poem in English; check copyright before printing |
| Remember | Christina Rossetti (1862) | A sonnet that ends by telling the living to smile; out of copyright |
| She Is Gone (He Is Gone) | David Harkins (1981) | Written about loss but focused on the life lived; in copyright |
| Miss Me — But Let Me Go | Anonymous (authorship disputed) | Short and simple |
Farewell and journeys
| Poem | Poet | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Crossing the Bar | Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1889) | A calm sea crossing; out of copyright |
| Requiem | Robert Louis Stevenson | “Home is the sailor, home from sea”; out of copyright |
| Because I Could Not Stop for Death | Emily Dickinson | For readers who like something less sentimental; out of copyright |
| High Flight | John Gillespie Magee (1941) | Often chosen for pilots and those who loved flying |
Raw grief
| Poem | Poet | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Funeral Blues (Stop All the Clocks) | W. H. Auden (1938) | Made famous by Four Weddings and a Funeral; in copyright |
| Those Winter Sundays | Robert Hayden | For a father whose love was quiet; in copyright |
| Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun | William Shakespeare, Cymbeline | A song of rest; out of copyright |
Non-religious and humanist services
Humanist celebrants often suggest poems that focus on the life lived rather than an afterlife: Death Is Nothing at All, Remember, She Is Gone and Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep all work without religious language. A short prose reading — a passage from a favourite novel, or something the person wrote — can be just as moving. Humanists UK's guide to writing a eulogy has advice that applies to readings too.
Reading a poem aloud at a funeral
- Practise it out loud three or four times; it gets easier each time.
- Print it in large type. Mark where to breathe.
- Read slower than feels natural.
- Have a back-up reader who knows they might need to step in. Nobody minds.
- Introduce it in one line: “Mum loved this poem; it hung in her kitchen.”
Printing poems in the order of service
In the UK, copyright in a poem lasts for 70 years after the poet's death (GOV.UK). Reading a poem aloud at a funeral is not usually a problem, but printing a poem that is still in copyright in an order of service or on a card technically needs permission from the publisher. Poems by Rossetti, Tennyson, Stevenson, Dickinson, Holland and Shakespeare are long out of copyright.
Questions people ask
What is the most popular funeral poem?
Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye appears on nearly every UK and US list, followed by Death Is Nothing at All by Henry Scott Holland.
What is a short poem for a funeral?
Remember by Christina Rossetti (14 lines), Crossing the Bar by Tennyson (16 lines) and Requiem by Robert Louis Stevenson (8 lines) all take under a minute to read.
What is a good non-religious funeral poem?
Death Is Nothing at All, Remember, She Is Gone (He Is Gone) and Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep all work at humanist and non-religious services.
Sources
- Funeral poems and verses, Dignity Funerals, 2025-09-23 (read October 5, 2026)
- The most beautiful poems for funerals, Pan Macmillan (read October 5, 2026)
- How long copyright lasts, GOV.UK (Intellectual Property Office) (read October 5, 2026)
- What is a eulogy and how do I write one?, Humanists UK (read October 5, 2026)
How we wrote this
Written by the In Memoriam Film team with AI assistance for research and drafting, then checked against the sources above. Figures come only from those sources; where a number is our own rule of thumb we say so. We make memorial films, so where a guide mentions our product, that is why.