Funeral reading help

[Mackenzies03]

Originally Posted by sieborg

It’s not a poem, but you mention that your grandfather loved the Lake District. Alfred Wainwright wrote some wonderful guide books for the Lake District fells and some of his words are very poetic.

The fleeting hour of life of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal. Always there will be the lonely ridge, the dancing beck, the silent forest; always there will be the exhilaration of the summits. These are for the seeking, and those who seek and find while there is still time will be blessed both in mind and body.
The precious moments of life are too rare, too valuable to be forgotten when they have passed; we should hoard them as a miser hoards his gold, and bring them to light and rejoice over them often. We should all of us have a treasury of happy memories to sustain us when life is unbearably cruel, to brighten the gloom a little, to be stars shining through the darkness.

Alfred Wainwright.

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This is beautiful

[KateD]

I read this fir my FIL


Feel no Guilt in Laughter (Anon)
Feel no guilt in laughter, he’d know how much you care.
Feel no sorrow in a smile that he’s not here to share.
You cannot grieve forever; he would not want you to.
He’d hope that you could carry on the way you always do
So, talk about the good times and the way you showed you cared,
The days you spent together, all the happiness you shared.
Let memories surround you, a word someone may say
Will suddenly recapture a time, an hour, a day,
That brings him back as clearly as though he were still here,
And fills you with the feeling that he is always near.
For if you keep those moments, you will never be apart
And he will live forever, locked safe within your heart.

[Wordsworth]

Originally Posted by Mackenzies03

Thank you all for your suggestions. I’ve taken some that I felt suited us and I’ve actually wrote a poem myself (I’ve always loved writing poetry and would be a poet if I won the lottery!) so I’m going to see what the family pick. It’s been an awful week but the Dibb has been such and easy distraction for me and I’m so grateful I’ve found this little community xx

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I’m sorry for your loss. I would encourage you to go with what you wrote. I wrote and read something when my dad passed last year about what he meant to me, and I’m so glad I did it. It was an opportunity for me to express my love. I’m confident reading aloud but practiced it a lot as I wanted to be certain I could get through it without welling up.

[wifey]

Originally Posted by Dr.JumbaJookiba

I read this at my Mum’s funeral

Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.

Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.

All is well.
Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

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Firstly I’m so sorry for your loss.
This one was read at a recent funeral of a friend’s wife, it was so moving and very fitting. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house but there were many smiles of thanks and loved memories too. Maybe add a couple of anecdotes about your loved one, did he have a particular habit in the garden or greenhouse if he had one? Was he someone who kept in touch with neighbours and friends and offered help when needed? Ask people who knew him well for more insights into the man he was before he was your grandad if you can. Their past could have influenced his life more than anyone would have expected it to.
You will always have memories of him with you in your mind and your heart hold them dear and treasure them. My condolences to you and your family.

[Gill H]

I would go with what you wrote. A personal reflection will be really meaningful.

I was going to suggest Wainwright too though!

[plutofan1]

Sorry for your loss

The other poem that we loved was the Dash
By Linda Ellis