Short Funeral Poems

Short Funeral Poems for a Memorial Card

The back of a memorial or prayer card has room for about four short lines under the name and dates. Each of these takes about fifteen seconds to read aloud.

Kept

We hold you now the way you held us,
gently, and without letting go.
You gave us more than we can measure,
and more than you will ever know.

Gone Ahead

Don't think of me as gone for good,
just gone ahead, the way I would,
to put the kettle on, and wait,
and leave a light on by the gate.

Every Day

You are the first thought every morning,
the last one every night,
and all the hours in between
are softer for your light.

Your Work Is Done

Your hands can rest, your work is done,
you gave us all you had.
We'll spend it well, the way you did,
and try to make you glad.

Short Poems to Say Goodbye at a Funeral

A goodbye poem works as the last words of a eulogy, at the graveside, or on the card that goes with the flowers. These are written to the person who died, so read them as if you were talking to them.

Goodbye for Now

Goodbye for now. We'll leave the door
unlatched, the way you knew,
and every time it creaks at night
we'll think it might be you.

One More Minute

If I had one more minute with you,
I wouldn't spend it on goodbye.
I'd say thank you, say I love you,
and give a hundred reasons why.

Go Gently

Go gently now; we'll take it from here:
the garden, the stories, the jokes you told.
We'll carry them carefully, year after year,
and give them away when we grow old.

If you are giving the eulogy too, end it with one of these and sit down. You don't need to introduce a short poem. Our funeral speech writer can help with the words that come before it.

Short Funeral Poems for Mom, Dad and Grandparents

A short poem about one person works best when it names something only they did. Change a detail if it doesn't fit: the pie can be soup, the porch can be a kitchen table.

For Mom

You taught us how to tie our shoes,
how much is "just a taste,"
and how to love someone so well
that nothing goes to waste.

For Dad

He fixed the things that we had broken
and never asked us how.
He'd tell us, "Go on, try again."
We're trying, Dad. Right now.

For a Grandparent

You always had the time for us,
a story and a treat,
and room for one more grandchild
on the porch's narrow seat.

For longer poems written for one person, see our funeral poems for mom, funeral poems for dad and funeral poems for grandma.

Short Funeral Poems for a Husband, Wife or Friend

For a Husband or Wife

We said "for life," and meant it, love,
and life is what we had:
the bills, the beach, the kids, the dog,
the good days and the bad.

For a Friend

You were the one I always called
with news, the good and bad.
I still reach for the phone sometimes.
It shows how much we had.

Short Religious Funeral Poems

These speak of God and heaven in a few lines. They suit a prayer card, a church program or the end of a graveside committal.

Safe Home

The Lord has called you home to rest,
your long day's work is through.
We'll miss you here, but in His house
a room was kept for you.

Held

You were held in God's hand at your first breath
and held in His hand at your last,
and we who stay are held there too
until this grief has passed.

An Irish Blessing

This old Irish blessing is often read at the end of a service or printed on the back of a prayer card.

May the road rise up to meet you,
may the wind be always at your back,
may the sun shine warm upon your face,
and the rains fall soft upon your fields,
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

If you would rather use scripture, one verse fits a card as well as a poem does. "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (Matthew 5:4) and "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7) are two short ones. Our Bible verses for funerals has more.

Short Non-Religious and Uplifting Funeral Poems

For a celebration of life, a humanist service, or someone who would have hated anything solemn.

Tell a Joke of Mine

Cry if you need to; that's all right.
Then tell a joke of mine,
the one you've heard a hundred times,
and laugh. I'll be just fine.

The Evening Tide

The tide goes out, and leaves behind
the shells along the sand.
You've gone out with the evening tide
and left them in our hand.

Well Lived

You didn't need a fuss or speech,
a statue or a stone.
You lived the kind of quiet life
that made us feel at home.

More poems in this spirit are in our celebration of life poems.

Short Classic Funeral Poems

These poems are more than a hundred years old and in the public domain, so you can print them or read them without asking permission. Each is eight lines or fewer, or is a single stanza that stands on its own.

Dying Speech of an Old Philosopher, by Walter Savage Landor (1849)

Landor wrote this at seventy-four. It suits someone who lived long and was ready to go.

I strove with none, for none was worth my strife:
Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art:
I warm'd both hands before the fire of Life;
It sinks; and I am ready to depart.

— Walter Savage Landor, "Dying Speech of an Old Philosopher" (1849)

If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking, by Emily Dickinson

A good fit for a nurse, a teacher, a caregiver or anyone who spent their life helping.

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

— Emily Dickinson, Poems (1890)

Heaven-Haven, by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Hopkins subtitled it "A nun takes the veil," but families often choose it for a quiet, peaceful person, or for someone who loved the sea.

I have desired to go
Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
And a few lilies blow.

And I have asked to be
Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.

— Gerard Manley Hopkins, Poems (1918)

Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun, by William Shakespeare

The first verse of a funeral song from Cymbeline. It tells the one who died that their work is finished and nothing can hurt them now.

Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

— William Shakespeare, Cymbeline (c. 1610)

A Psalm of Life (one verse), by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "A Psalm of Life" (1838)

For the Fallen (fourth verse), by Laurence Binyon

Read at Remembrance services for more than a century, and right for a veteran's funeral.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

— Laurence Binyon, "For the Fallen" (1914)

Robert Louis Stevenson's eight-line "Requiem" and Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar" are two more short classics; both are printed in full in our funeral poems collection.

Where a Short Poem Fits

• Memorial or prayer card. Our memorial and prayer cards are 2.5" x 4.25", with the photo, name and dates on the front and a poem, prayer or verse on the back. Four lines fit best; six short lines still read well.
• Funeral program. A short poem fits under the order of service or on the back cover of a funeral program, so it is the last thing people read. Our funeral program examples show where families usually put it.
• Flowers and sympathy cards. Two lines of any poem above, with your name, are enough for a card on flowers. For more wording, see what to write on a memorial card.
• Read aloud. A four-line poem takes about fifteen seconds and an eight-line one about thirty, so it suits someone who wants to take part but doesn't want to give a speech: a grandchild, a sibling, a nervous friend.
• At the graveside. A short goodbye or religious poem can close the committal after the officiant's prayer. Ask the officiant first.
• Online. A short poem works as the caption on a photo or the first lines of an online obituary.

Questions Families Ask

What is a good short poem for a funeral?

One that sounds like the person and fits in four to eight lines. For a card, choose a poem of four lines, such as "Kept" or "Every Day" above. To read aloud, Landor's four lines or Dickinson's "If I can stop one heart from breaking" are classics that most people in the room will understand on first hearing.

How long should a funeral poem be?

For a memorial card, four lines. For a reading during the service, anything up to about sixteen lines, which takes about a minute. If several people are speaking, a short poem keeps the service on time and gives someone who doesn't want to speak a way to take part.

Can a poem be read at a Catholic funeral?

At a funeral Mass the readings come from scripture, so a poem is usually read at the vigil, at the reception, or during words of remembrance if the parish allows them, or it is printed in the program or on the prayer card. Ask the parish what they allow.

Can I print these poems on a memorial card or in a program?

Yes. The poems on this page without a credit line, apart from the traditional Irish blessing, were written for FuneralFolio and are free to use, change and print. The credited classics are in the public domain. You can copy any of them into a FuneralFolio prayer card or program template, add the photo and dates, and download a print-ready file.

How do I write my own short funeral poem?

Start with one specific thing they did, like the kettle, the porch or the joke they always told, and write four lines about it. Rhyme the second and fourth lines and don't worry about the first and third. Read it aloud once; if it sounds like them, it is finished.