How to Choose a Memorial Poem or Verse for a Funeral or Celebration of Life

When choosing a poem or verse for a celebration of life, funeral, or memorial service, you’ll first want to consider where you plan to use the poems and verses. Today many people are going beyond prayer cards and bookmarks and creating memorial service folders and various memorial favors. You can also print the same poem or verse on the thank you notes you’ll send. If you are using the verse on a small size card, you will obviously want to choose a shorter poem or verse.

Next, you’ll want a verse that more closely captures the essence of the person. Sometimes this can even come in the form of a musical verse from the person’s favorite band or singer. You may want to peruse their selection of music to see if you can find some song lyrics that might be appropriate. Perhaps a family member or even a young family member could write a poem. Experts recommend writing as an effective way to grieve. Children, although very simple in their thoughts, can often write very moving words.

Consider that the poem does not have to be about death but about how they lived their lives. For example;

“Loving for being loved is human,

but to love for the sake of loving is angelic”.

By Alfonso de Lamartine

Not all horses are born equal.

Some were born to win.

By Mark Twain

Laugh many times and a lot;

to win the respect of intelligent people

and the affection of children;

win the appreciation of honest critics

and bear the betrayal of false friends;

appreciate beauty;

find the best in others;

to leave the world a little better

either for a healthy child,

a garden patch, or redeemed social status;

to know that a life has breathed better

because you lived here

This is having achieved it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love is also a common theme;

To those I love and to those who love me

When I’m gone, release me, let me go

I have so many things to see and do

You must not tie yourself to me with tears

Be happy that I have had so many years.

I gave you my love, you can only guess

how much did you give me in happiness

I believe that because of the love that each one has shown

But now it’s time to travel alone

So grieved for a while by me, if grieved you must

So let your grievance be comforted by trust

It’s only for a while that we must part

So bless the memories in your heart

I won’t be far away, because life goes on.

So if you need me, call and I’ll come.

Even if you can’t see or touch me, I’ll be around

And if you listen with your heart, you will hear

All my love around you soft and clear

So when you must come this way alone

I will greet you with a smile and a

“Welcome home”

Mary Alice Ramish

love lives on

The ones we love stay with us

because love itself is still alive,

and cherished memories never fade

because a loved one is gone.

Those we love can never be

more than a separate thought,

as long as there is memory,

They will live in the heart.

If the person was religious, the most common or traditional verse for Catholic and religious services has been Psalm 23.

The Lord is My Shepherd; I will lack nothing. In green pastures he makes me rest; beside still waters he leads me. He restores my soul; he guides me in the path of justice for his name’s sake. Yes, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you will be with me; your rod and your staff will give me breath. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows Certainly good and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and in the house of the Lord I will dwell for long days.

King James version

The following poems and verses are more focused on death;

I wish you enough

I wish you enough sunshine to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain to make the smallest joys in life seem so much bigger.

I want you to earn enough to satisfy your wish.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate everything you own.

I wish you enough “Hellos” to get you through the final “Goodbye.”

The death is nothing

Death is nothing at all.

I’ve only slipped into the next room.

I am me and you are you.

whatever we were to each other

That we still are.

call me by my old family name

Talk to me the easy way you always used

Don’t maintain a forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh like we always laugh at jokes

We enjoy together.

Play, smile, think of me, pray for me,

May my name always be the familiar word that

always it was

Let it be spoken without effort,

Without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means everything it ever meant

It’s the same as it always was

There is an absolutely unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind because I’m

Out of sight? I’m just waiting for you

for an interval

somewhere very close

Just around the corner.

Everything’s fine.

Cannon Henry Scott Netherlands (1847-1918)

I turn my head and look towards death now.

Feeling my way through the tunnel with the space of

emptiness and stillness

The shimmering silence that awaits me.

This is my address now; Into the green pastures…

The worries of the world no longer concern me.

I have completed this life. My work is done, my

grown children.

My husband is doing well on his hero’s journey.

I have loved a lot and well…

Those I leave behind, I love.

I hope to remain in their hearts like them

in mine…

Thank you for taking such good care of me…

And to all of you who have been my friends, thank you

for teaching me about love.

Karen Vervaet from “Karen’s Journal”, April 3, 1993

In closing, memorial services and celebrations of life are about the person who was lost and the life they lived. It is up to you to decide what will help you and those in attendance to better remember and celebrate that person’s life.