5.0 out of 5 starsBased on 917 reviewsFeefo Verified Reviews
Find a branch

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.

Share:

More Poems

Good-bye, My Fancy!

Funeral or memorial poem by American writer Walt Whitman, ideal for a religious or non-religious funeral service.

Goodbye Brother

Heaven has called upon you today, leaving so many words left to say. But now it’s too late, for your time has come. Words unspoken

To Sleep

A funeral poem by Romantic poet John Keats about the peaceful sleep at the end of life, suitable as a funeral reading or eulogy.