When I Am Dead, My Dearest

This brief poem by famous Victorian poet Christina Rossetti is a popular choice for funerals and memorial services because of the narrator’s request that her or his loved ones do not dwell in grief for their death, but continue to live life after they are gone.

When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
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.

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After the service

Ways to keep them close

Words like these often stay with us long after the funeral. Some families also find comfort in a keepsake at home: an urn, a cuddle stone to hold, or jewellery with a little of their ashes inside.

More Poems

Remembrance

Sonnet 30 by William Shakespeare, written for a close friend. This remembrance poem is an ideal funeral poem for a loved one.

Fidele

Funeral poem taken from William Shakespeare’s play ‘Cymbeline’, about a loved one finding peace in the afterlife.

Seasons Of Grief

Shall I wither and fall like an autumn leaf, From this deep sorrow – from this painful grief? How can I go on or find

If I Should Go

This popular funeral poem by Joyce Grenfell is a poignant parting note to family and friends

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