Readings for memorial services are listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Copyright:<\/em> To the best of my knowledge, all the material included here is either in the public domain, or is included as a fair use of copyrighted material (under 500 words, and less than half of a complete poem). For copyrighted material, I provide links to websites which have permission to post the material. If you are a copyright holder and want your material taken down, please email me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Author backgrounds:<\/em> Authors represent a variety of ethnicities and religious backgrounds, from several different centuries. Unitarian Universalist, or UU, authors are noted by [UU] after their names. (Ray Bradbury, though not a UU himself, attended UU churches at times; Rabindranath Tagore was part of the Brahmo Samaj movement, which had ties to the Unitarianism of its day.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where to start:<\/em> If you’re overwhelmed with the number of readings, start by looking at these \u2014 “Crossing the Bar” by Alfred Tennyson; “When Great Trees Fall by Maya Angelou; “Forever” by Paul Laurence Dunbar; Ecclesiastes (“To everything…”); “They Are with Us Still” by Kathleen McTigue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What’s not here:<\/em> Out of respect for author’s rights, I won’t link to readings that have been placed online without permission. Some well-known poets have not given permission for their poems to be placed on online \u2014 Mary Oliver is one example. I have not included May Sarton’s “All Souls,” because if I lead a memorial service I’ll include that poem anyway, in the meditation\/prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even more readings:<\/em> I recommend the printed book Beyond Absence, compiled by Edmund Searl.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Songs and hymns:<\/em> At the end of this page, I’ve included suggestions for hymns\/songs that can be used in Unitarian Universalist (or other similar) memorial services. Click here to go to hymns and songs.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Updated 23 Sept. 2025; 71 readings or links to readings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Richard Aldington<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let the sea beat its thin torn hands by Maya Angelou<\/p>\n\n\n\n I recommend using athe portion of this poem that begins “And when great souls die, \/ after a period peace blooms…” \u2014 ending with “…We can be. Be and be \/ better. For they existed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to the full poem: When Great Trees Fall<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Louisa May Alcott [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mysterious death! who in a single hour Bending beneath the weight of eighty years But ere the sense of loss our hearts had wrung Age, pain, and sorrow dropped the veils they wore The past years brought their harvest rich and fair; How could we mourn like those who are bereft, by W. H. Auden<\/p>\n\n\n\n “…He was my North, my South, my East and West, (Also known as “Funeral Blues”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to “Stop all the clocks…”<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Elizabeth Bishop<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The art of losing isn’t hard to master…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to One Art<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Ray Bradbury<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you\u2019re there. It doesn\u2019t matter what you do, he said, so as long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that\u2019s like you after you take your hands away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n by David Breeden [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Just as the last leaves on branches…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to What Loss Means<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Anne Bronte<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, thou art gone and never more May stand upon the cold, damp stone, Yet, though I cannot see thee more To think a soul so near divine, by Sara Coleridge<\/p>\n\n\n\n O sleep, my babe, hear not the rippling wave, Soon shall it mourn above thy watery bed, Ere those dear eyes had opened on the light, A thousand and a thousand silken leaves A thousand infant faces, soft and sweet, No musing mind hath ever yet fore-shaped O sleep, my babe, nor heed how mourns the gale by Stephen Crane<\/p>\n\n\n\n Places among the stars, by E. E. Cummings [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n “i carry your heart in me (i carry it in my heart)…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to i carry your heart with me<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Atena O. Danner<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Loss binds us together…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Sharing Losses<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Emily Dickinson<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because I could not stop for Death \u2014 We slowly drove \u2014 He knew no haste, We passed the School, where Children strove Or rather \u2014 He passed Us \u2014 We paused before a House that seemed Since then \u2014 ’tis centuries \u2014 and yet by Emily Dickinson<\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, And when they all were seated, And then I heard them lift a Box As all the Heavens were a Bell, And then a Plank in Reason, broke, by Emily Dickinson<\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s a certain slant of light, Heavenly hurt it gives us; None may teach it anything, When it comes, the landscape listens, by Frank Carleton Doan [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n This death of the body, is it not in the natural order of things in the physical universe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behold the flowers of the field. They bloom for a brief season and then wither away. The birds of the air, they ascend for their last flight, then descend to fold their wings and find peace in their nest, even the peace of death. So, too, it is with the beasts of the forest. When their time is come, they seek out some quiet, secluded spot, make their last lair, and lay them down there to die; unafraid they, and unashamed\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are we that we should think to escape this common destiny of all earthly things, or resent this final blow of fate called death?<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Paul Laurence Dunbar<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had not known before Tis hard to learn so late; The night is not all dark, I had not known before by Paul Laurence Dunbar<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have no fancy for that ancient cant For everything there is a season, by Loren Eisley<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the first human eye saw a leaf in Devonian sandstone and a puzzled finger reached to touch it, sadness has lain over the heart of man. By this tenuous thread of living protoplasm, stretching backward into time, we are linked forever to lost beaches whose sands have long since hardened into stone. The stars that caught our blind amphibian stare have shifted far or vanished in their courses, but still that naked, glistening thread winds onward. No one knows the secret of its beginning or its end. Its forms are phantoms. The thread alone is real; the thread is life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Ralph Waldo Emerson [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is the secret of the world that all things subsist, and do not die, but only retire a little from sight, and afterwards return again. Whatever does not concern us, is concealed from us. As soon as a person is no longer related to our present well-being, he is concealed, or dies, as we say. Really, all things and persons are related to us\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nothing is dead: men feign themselves dead, and endure mock funerals and mournful obituaries, and there they stand looking out of the window, sound and well, in some new and strange disguise. Jesus is not dead: he is very well alive: nor John, nor Paul, nor Mahomet, nor Aristotle; at times we believe we have seen them all, and could easily tell the names under which they go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Ralph Waldo Emerson [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good-bye, proud world! I’m going home: I am going to my own hearth-stone, by Ralph Waldo Emerson [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2019Tis a brave master; It was never for the mean; by Robert Frost<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nature\u2019s first green is gold, by Robert Frost<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out through the fields and the woods The leaves are all dead on the ground, And the dead leaves lie huddled and still, Ah, when to the heart of man by Katie Sivani Gelfand [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n “May you be tender and gentle with yourself…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to A Blessing for Grief<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Kahlil Gibran<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow. Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.” Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. by Kahlil Gibran<\/p>\n\n\n\n You would know the secret of death\u2026. by Nikki Giovanni<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It’s a journey…that I propose…I am not the guide…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to A Journey<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Rigoberto Gonzalez<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There’s a man who sits on a bench…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Portrait of a Father after His Son’s Memorial Service<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Cindy Williams Gutierez<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We will smudge our shoulder blades with wings of ash…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Ritual for Ash<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Thich Nhat Hanh<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Death comes with his impressive scytheand says, ‘You should not be afraid of me’…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Bhumisphara<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Thich Nhat Hanh<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The moment I die I will come back to you…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Onenness<\/a> — scroll down<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Joy Harjo<\/p>\n\n\n\n “…I lean into the rhythm of your heart to see where it will take us…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to For Keeps<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by William Ernest Henley<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ll go no more a-roving by the light of the moon. We’ll go no more a-roving by the light of the moon. We’ll go no more a-roving by the light of the moon. by Robert Herrick<\/p>\n\n\n\n All things decay with time: The forest sees by Charles Heavysege<\/p>\n\n\n\n How great unto the living seem the dead! by Marie Howe<\/p>\n\n\n\n “…I am living. I remember you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to What the Living Do<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Langston Hughes<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear lovely Death by Langston Hughes<\/p>\n\n\n\n The moon still sends its mellow light The sun still shines just as before; The sky is blue and the robin sings; In all the earth no joy can be; by Saeed Jones<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Her blue dress is a silk train, is a river…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to The Blue Dress<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Ben Jonson \u2014 death of a child<\/p>\n\n\n\n Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; W. Todd Kaneko<\/p>\n\n\n\n “A man can’t die where there is no earth…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Where the Sky Meets the Earth<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Maureen Killoran [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Open your hearts, my friends…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Honoring a Difficult Death<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Judith Kroll<\/p>\n\n\n\n “…as we will always be daughters without you.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Your Clothes<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Winifred M. Letts<\/p>\n\n\n\n In losing you I lost my sun and moon by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is real! Life is earnest! Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Lives of great men all remind us Footprints, that perhaps another, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a fond mother, when the day is o\u2019er, Still gazing at them through the open door, So Nature deals with us, and takes away Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay, by James Russell Lowell [UU] \u2014 death of a child<\/p>\n\n\n\n The snow had begun in the gloaming, Every pine and fir and hemlock From sheds new-roofed with Carrara I stood and watched by the window I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn Up spoke our own little Mabel, Again I looked at the snow-fall, I remembered the gradual patience And again to the child I whispered, Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her; by Kathleen McTigue [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n “In the struggles we choose for ourselves…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to They Are with Us Still<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by W. S. Merwin<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Your absence has gone through me…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Separation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Meghan O’Rourke<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Even now I can’t grasp ‘nothing’ or ‘never’…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Ever<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us reflect in another way, and we shall see that there is great reason to hope that death is a good; for one of two things \u2014 either death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as people say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, if you suppose that there is no consciousness, but a sleep like the sleep of one who is undisturbed even by dreams, death will be an unspeakable gain. For if a person were to select the night in which their sleep was undisturbed even by dreams, and were to compare with this the other days and nights of their life, and then were to say what day or night they had passed more pleasantly than this one, I think that any one will not find many such days or nights. Now if death like this, I say that to die is gain; for eternity is then only a single night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if death is the journey to another place, and there, as people say, all the dead abide, what can be greater than this? What would person would not want to converse Orpheus and Homer and all the great people of the past? \u2026 What infinite delight would there be in talking with them and asking them questions! And besides being happier than we are now, they will be immortal, if what is said is true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wherefore, my friends, be of good cheer about death\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Christina Rossetti<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I am dead, my dearest, I shall not see the shadows, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople have stars, but they aren\u2019t the same. For travelers, the stars are guides. For other people, they\u2019re nothing but tiny lights. And for still others, for scholars, they\u2019re problems. For a businessman, they were gold. But all those stars are silent stars. You, though, you\u2019ll have stars like nobody else” [said the Little Prince].<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you look up at the sky at night, since I\u2019ll be living on one of them, since I\u2019ll be laughing on one of them, for you it\u2019ll be as if all the stars are laughing. You\u2019ll have stars that can laugh!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And he laughed again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd when you\u2019re consoled (everyone is eventually consoled), you\u2019ll be glad you\u2019ve known me. You\u2019ll always be my friend. You\u2019ll feel like laughing with me. And you\u2019ll open your windows sometimes just for the fun of it \u2026 And your friends will be amazed to see you laughing while you\u2019re looking up at the sky. Then you\u2019ll tell them, \u2018Yes, it\u2019s the stars; they always make me laugh!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n by George Santayana<\/p>\n\n\n\n …With you a part of me hath passed away; by William Shakespeare<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like as the waves make towards the pebbl\u2019d shore, by William Shakespeare<\/p>\n\n\n\n That time of year thou mayst in me behold by Izumi Shibuki<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Although the wind \/ blows terribly here…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Although the Wind<\/a> translated by Jane Hirschfield<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Stephen Spender<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I think of those who were truly great…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to The Truly Great<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Robert Louis Stevenson<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though he, that ever kind and true, He is not dead, this friend \u2014 not dead, by Rabindranath Tagore, translated by K. R. Kripalani<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whirled far away by the ruthless car of Time, When the blossom sheds its petalled tears in Spring, No loss is yours. From my passionate mortal clay by Rabindranath Tagore<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life as a whole never takes death seriously. It laughs, dances and plays, it builds, hoards and loves in death’s face. Only when we detach one individual fact of death do we see its blankness and become dismayed. We lose sight of the wholeness of a life of which death is part. It is like looking at a piece of cloth through a microscope. It appears like a net; we gaze at the big holes and shiver in imagination. But the truth is, death is not the ultimate reality. It looks black, as the sky looks blue; but it does not blacken existence, just as the sky does not leave its stain upon the wings of the bird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Rabindranath Tagore<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through death and sorrow by Sara Teasdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n I lift my heart as spring lifts up For I shall learn from flower and leaf by Alfred Tennyson<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sunset and evening star, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Twilight and evening bell, For though from out our bourne of Time and Place by Dylan Thomas<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Do not go gentle into that good night, \/ Old age should burn and rave at close of day…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Henry David Thoreau [UU]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the death of friends will inspire us as much as their lives. They will leave consolation to the mourners, as the rich leave money to defray the expenses of their funerals, and their memories will be incrusted over with sublime and pleasing thoughts, as monuments of other men are overgrown with moss; for our Friends have no place in the graveyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n by J. R. R. Tolkien<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Road goes ever on and on \/ Down from the door where it began….”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Roads Go Ever Ever On<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n by Mark Twain<\/p>\n\n\n\n Warm summer sun, by William Wordsworth<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the spot: \u2014 how mildly does the sun by Kevin Young<\/p>\n\n\n\n “To allow silence \/ To admit it in us…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Link to Eulogy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some possibilities for songs and hymns for Unitarian Universalist (and other similar) memorial services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note that some families choose hymns and songs that are celebratory rather than songs and hymns about death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Numbers in parentheses refer to hymns and songs in the two current Unitarian Universalist hymnals. I have given one verse of each song or hymn to give a flavor of the whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to Readings for Memorial Services<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by Henry Francis Lyte 1. Abide with me, fast falls the eventide; Youtube video<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by Anna Akhmatova, trans. Mark Belletini 1. All my memories of love hang upon high stars. Youtube video<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by John Newton<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound Youtube video<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by Peter Mayer 1. Though below me I feel no ocean Peter Mayer’s performance on Youtube<\/a> Folk hymn Bright morning stars are rising Youtube video<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by F. S. Pierpoint, adapted for UU services 1. For the beauty of the earth Youtube video with lyrics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n See: “My Life Flows On in Endless Song” below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by Hildegard of Bingen 1. I am that great and fiery force Youtube video<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by Frederick Lucian Hosmer [UU] 1. I cannot think of them as dead Youtube video with lyrics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by Brian Wren 1. Let hope and sorrow now unite Youtube video with lyrics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by Eleanor Farjeon, adapted for UU services 1. Morning has broken Youtube video with lyrics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by “Pauline T.” and Doris Plenn 1. My life flows on in endless song Youtube video<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Words by Sarah Flower Adams [UU] 1. Part in peace! the day before us. Click for copyright free sheet music<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n African American folk hymn<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. There is more love somewhere
\n\n\n\nInarticulate Grief<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In anguish against the shore,
Let it moan
Between headland and cliff;
Let the sea shriek out its agony
Across waste sands and marshes,
And clutch great ships,
Tearing them plate from steel plate
In reckless anger;
Let it break the white bulwarks
Of harbor and city;
Let it sob and scream and laugh
In a sharp fury,
With white salt tears
Wet on its writhen face;
Ah! let the sea still be mad
And crash in madness among the shaking rocks \u2014
For the sea is the cry of our sorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen Great Trees Fall<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
from Transfiguration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Life’s gold can so refine
And by thy art divine
Change mortal weakness to immortal power!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spent with the noble strife
of a victorious life
We watched her fading heavenward, through our tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A miracle was wrought;
And swift as happy thought
She lived again \u2014 brave, beautiful, and young.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And showed the tender eyes
Of angels in disguise,
Whose discipline so patiently she bore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While memory and love,
Together, fondly wove
A golden garland for the silver hair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When every pang of grief
found balm for its relief
In counting up the treasures she had left?<\/p>\n\n\n\nTwelve Songs: IX (“Stop all the clocks…”)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
My working week and my Sunday rest…”<\/p>\n\n\n\nOne Art<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
from Fahrenheit 451<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What Loss Means<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A Reminiscence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Thy sunny smile shall gladden me;
But I may pass the old church door
And pace the floor that covers thee;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And think that frozen lies below
The lightest heart that I have known,
The kindest I shall ever know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2019Tis still a comfort to have seen,
And though thy transient life is o\u2019er
\u2019Tis sweet to think that thou hast been;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within a form so angel fair
United to a heart like thine
Has gladdened once our humble sphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\nO Sleep, My Babe<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Nor feel the breeze that round thee lingering strays
To drink thy balmy breath,
And sigh one long farewell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And whisper to me, on the wave-beat shore,
Deep murmuring in reproach,
Thy sad untimely fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In vain to plead, thy coming life was sold,
O wakened but to sleep,
Whence it can wake no more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tufted beech unfolds in early spring,
All clad in tenderest green,
All of the self-same shape:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each year sends forth, yet every mother views
Her last not least beloved
Like its dear self alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The face to-morrow’s sun shall first reveal,
No heart hath e’er conceived
What love that face will bring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To part with thy soft locks and fragrant breath,
As when it deeply sighs
O’er autumn’s latest bloom.<\/p>\n\n\n\nXXIII<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Soft gardens near the sun,
Keep your distant beauty;
Shed no beams upon my weak heart.
Since she is here
In a place of blackness,
Not your golden days
Not your silver nights
Can call me to you.
Since she is here
In a place of blackness,
Here I stay and wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\ni carry your heart with me<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sharing Losses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Because I could not stop for Death<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
He kindly stopped for me \u2014
The Carriage held but just Ourselves \u2014
And Immortality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At recess \u2014 in the ring \u2014
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain \u2014
We passed the Setting Sun \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Dews drew quivering and chill \u2014
For only Gossamer, my Gown \u2014
My Tippet \u2014 only Tulle \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Swelling of the Ground \u2014
The Roof was scarcely visible \u2014
The Cornice \u2014 in the Ground \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\nI felt a funeral in my Brain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading \u2014 treading \u2014 till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Service, like a Drum \u2014
Kept beating \u2014 beating \u2014 till I thought
My Mind was going numb \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space \u2014 began to toll,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I dropped down, and down \u2014
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing \u2014 then \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\nThere’s a certain slant of light<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2019Tis the seal, despair, \u2014
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, \u2019tis like the distance
On the look of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Natural Order of Things<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Forever<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Forever was so long a word.
The slow stroke of the clock of time
I had not heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems no sad heart really learns,
But hopes and trusts and doubts and fears,
And bleeds and burns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nor is the day all it seems,
But each may bring me this relief \u2014
My dreams and dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That Never was so sad a word,
So wrap me in forgetfulness \u2014
I have not heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Right To Die<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
That makes us masters of our destinies,
And not our lives, to hold or give them up
As will directs; I cannot, will not think
That men, the subtle worms, who plot and plan
And scheme and calculate with such shrewd wit,
Are such great blund’ring fools as not to know
When they have lived enough.
Men court not death
When there are sweets still left in life to taste.
Nor will a brave man choose to live when he,
Full deeply drunk of life, has reached the dregs,
And knows that now but bitterness remains.
He is the coward who, outfaced in this,
Fears the false goblins of another life.
I honor him who being much harassed
Drinks of sweet courage until drunk of it,–
Then seizing Death, reluctant, by the hand,
Leaps with him, fearless, to eternal peace!<\/p>\n\n\n\nfrom the Book of Ecclesiastes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
and a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to break down and a time to build up;
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek and a time to lose;
A time to keep and a time to cast away;
A time to rend and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence and a time to speak;
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
For everything there is a season,
and a time for every matter under heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\nfrom The Firmament of Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
from Nominalist and Realist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
from Good-Bye<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Thou art not my friend, and I’m not thine.
Long through thy weary crowds I roam;
A river-ark on the ocean brine,
Long I’ve been tossed like the driven foam;
But now, proud world! I’m going home\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bosomed in yon green hills alone, \u2014
A secret nook in a pleasant land,
Whose groves the frolic fairies planned;
Where arches green, the livelong day,
Echo the blackbird’s roundelay,
And vulgar feet have never trod
A spot that is sacred to thought and God\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\nfrom Give All to Love<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Let it have scope:
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope:
High and more high
It dives into noon,
With wing unspent,
Untold intent:
But it is a god,
Knows its own path
And the outlets of the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It requireth courage stout.
Souls above doubt,
Valor unbending,
It will reward, \u2014
They shall return
More than they were,
And ever ascending….<\/p>\n\n\n\nNothing Gold Can Stay<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\nReluctance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
And looked at the world, and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
And lo, it is ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last lone aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
But the feet question \u2018Whither?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?<\/p>\n\n\n\nA Blessing for Grief<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
On Joy and Sorrow<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the self-same well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter\u2019s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\nfrom The Prophet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one\u2026.
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim all your limbs, then you shall truly dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA Journey<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Portrait of a Father After His Son’s Memorial Service<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ritual for Ash<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Bhumisphara<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Oneness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
For Keeps<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
We’ll Go No More a-Roving<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
November glooms are barren beside the dusk of June.
The summer flowers are faded, the summer thoughts are sere.
We’ll go no more a-roving, lest worse befall, my dear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song we sang rings hollow, and heavy runs the tune.
Glad ways and words remembered would shame the wretched year.
We’ll go no more a-roving, nor dream we did, my dear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If yet we walk together, we need not shun the moon.
No sweet thing left to savour, no sad thing left to fear,
We’ll go no more a-roving, but weep at home, my dear.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAll Thing Decay with Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The growth and down-fall of her aged trees;
That timber tall, which three-score lustres stood
The proud dictator of the state-like wood,
I mean the sovereign of all plants, the oak,
Droops, dies, and falls without the cleaver’s stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow great unto the living seem the dead!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How sacred, solemn; how heroic grown;
How vast and vague, as they obscurely tread
The shadowy confines of the dim unknown! \u2014
For they have met the monster that we dread,
Have learned the secret not to mortal shown.
E’en as gigantic shadows on the wall
The spirit of the daunted child amaze,
So on us thoughts of the departed fall,
And with phantasma fill our gloomy gaze.
Awe and deep wonder lend the living lines,
And hope and ecstasy the borrowed beams;
While fitful fancy the full form divines,
And all is what imagination dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat the Living Do<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Dear Lovely Death<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
That taketh all things under wing \u2014
Never to kill \u2014
Only to change
Into some other thing
This suffering flesh,
To make it either more or less,
But not again the same \u2014
Dear lovely Death,
Change is thy other name.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTo a Dead Friend<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Through the purple blackness of the night;
The morning star is palely bright
Before the dawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rose still grows beside my door,
But you have gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The butterflies dance on rainbow wings
Though I am sad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Happiness comes no more to me,
For you are dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Blue Dress<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
On My First Son<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
Seven years tho’ wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
O, could I lose all father now! For why
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have so soon escaped world’s and flesh’s rage,
And if no other misery, yet age?
Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, “Here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry.”
For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such,
As what he loves may never like too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhere the Sky Meets the Earth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Honoring a Difficult Death<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Your Clothes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Loss<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
And all the stars that blessed my lonely night.
I lost the hope of Spring, the joy of June,
The Autumn\u2019s peace, the Winter\u2019s firelight.
I lost the zest of living, the sweet sense
Expectant of your step, your smile, your kiss;
I lost all hope and fear and keen suspense
For this cold calm, sans agony, sans bliss.
I lost the rainbow\u2019s gold, the silver key
That gave me freedom of my town of dreams;
I lost the path that leads to Faerie
By beechen glades and heron-haunted streams.
I lost the master word, dear love, the clue
That threads the maze of life when I lost you.<\/p>\n\n\n\nfrom A Psalm of Life<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day….<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sailing o\u2019er life\u2019s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again….<\/p>\n\n\n\nNature<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Leads by the hand her little child to bed,
Half willing, half reluctant to be led,
And leave his broken playthings on the floor,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nor wholly reassured and comforted
By promises of others in their stead,
Which, though more splendid, may not please him more;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our playthings one by one, and by the hand
Leads us to rest so gently, that we go<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being too full of sleep to understand
How far the unknown transcends the what we know.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe First Snow-fall<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
And busily all the night
Had been heaping field and highway
With a silence deep and white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wore ermine too dear for an earl,
And the poorest twig on the elm-tree
Was ridged inch deep with pearl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Came Chanticleer’s muffled crow,
The stiff rails were softened to swan’s-down,
And still fluttered down the snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The noiseless work of the sky,
And the sudden flurries of snow-birds,
Like brown leaves whirling by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where a little headstone stood;
How the flakes were folding it gently,
As did robins the babes in the wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saying, “Father, who makes it snow?”
And I told of the good All-father
Who cares for us here below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And thought of the leaden sky
That arched o’er our first great sorrow,
When that mound was heaped so high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That fell from that cloud-like snow,
Flake by flake, healing and hiding
The scar of our deep-plunged woe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The snow that husheth all,
Darling, the merciful Father
Alone can make it fall!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And she, kissing back, could not know
That my kiss was given to her sister,
Folded close under deepening snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThey Are with Us Still<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Separation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ever<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
from The Apology of Socrates<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When I am dead, my dearest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\nfrom The Little Prince<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
from To W. P.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
For in the peopled forest of my mind
A tree made leafless by this wintry wind
Shall never don again its green array.
Chapel and fireside, country road and bay,
Have something of their friendliness resigned;
Another, if I would, I could not find,
And I am grown much older in a day.
But yet I treasure in my memory
Your gift of charity, your mellow ease,
And the dear honor of your amity;
For these once mine, my life is rich with these.
And I scarce know which part may greater be, \u2014
What I keep of you, or you rob of me….<\/p>\n\n\n\nLike as the waves<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown\u2019d,
Crooked eclipses \u2018gainst his glory fight,
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty\u2019s brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature\u2019s truth,
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThat time of year thou mayst in me behold<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire,
Consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlthough the Wind<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Truly Great<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
from Consolation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kept stoutly step by step with you,
Your whole long, gusty lifetime through,
Be gone a while before,
Be now a moment gone before,
Yet, doubt not, soon the seasons shall restore
Your friend to you\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in the path we mortals tread
Got some few, trifling steps ahead
And nearer to the end\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\nfrom Farewell My Friend<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(Can you hear, O friend, the thunderous wheels in the dark?)
I lie today on the peak of an alien dawn.
The thing I was is lost in a thousand deaths,
The speed-born wind its knell.
And could you see, you would not know me now.
My friend, farewell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One day, maybe, you will turn to the fading past.
And find there a flickering shadow of light \u2014 a dream ?
Not dream but Truth, but Love death-conquering,
Thy gift unchangeable
Though the changeful tides of time may bear me far \u2014
My friend, farewell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shape, if you will, a goddess to fill your shrine.
My gross touch shall not sully, nor hot tears
Outrage the flowers of worship, evermore.
Grieve not, with me \u2018tis well.
My cup of life unbroken shall yet he filled.
My friend, farewell.<\/p>\n\n\n\nfrom Sadhana, the Realization of Life<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Through Death and Sorrow<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
there dwells peace
in the heart of the Eternal.
Life’s current flows without cease,
the sunlight and starlights
carry the smile of existence
and springtime of its songs.
Waves rise and fall,
the flowers blossom and fade
and my heart yearns for its place
at the feet of the Endless.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlchemy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2060A yellow daisy to the rain;
My heart will be a lovely cup
\u2060Altho’ it holds but pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2060That color every drop they hold,
To change the lifeless wine of grief
\u2060To living gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCrossing the Bar<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDo Not Go Gentle into That Good Night<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
from A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Roads Go Ever Ever On<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Warm Summer Sun<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Shine kindly here,
Warm southern wind,
Blow softly here.
Green sod above,
Lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear heart,
Good night, good night.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTravelling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Shine in between the fading leaves! the air
In the habitual silence of this wood
Is more than silent: and this bed of heath,
Where shall we find so sweet a resting-place?
Come! \u2014 let me see thee sink into a dream
Of quiet thoughts, \u2014 protracted till thine eye
Be calm as water when the winds are gone
And no one can tell whither \u2014 my sweet friend!
We two have had such happy hours together
That my heart melts in me to think of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEulogy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nSongs and hymns for UU memorial services<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Abide with Me (101)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(suggested in the UU hymnal \u2014 especially suitable for more traditional memorial services)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The darkness deepens, still with me abide.
When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAll My Memories of Love (336)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(suggested in the UU hymnal)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the souls I’ve lost to tears no the autumn jars,
And the air around me here thickens with their song;
Sing again their nameless tunes, sing again, and strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAmazing Grace (205)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
That saved a wretch [soul] like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found,
Was blind, but now I see.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBlue Boat Home (1064)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(chosen frequently by UU families for memorial services)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standing on these mountains and plains.
Far away from the rolling ocean
Still my dry-land heart can say:
I’ve been sailing all my life now
Never harbor or port have I known,
The wide universe is the ocean I travel,
And the earth is my blue boat home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another Youtube video, but with lyrics<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nBright Morning Stars Are Rising (357)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(suggested by the UU hymnal)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day is a-breaking in my soul<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor the Beauty of the Earth (21)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(chosen by more than one UU family for memorial services)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the splendor of the skies
For the love which from our birth
Overand around us lies
Source of all, to thee we raise
This, our song of grateful praise.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow Can I Keep from Singing (108)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I Am That Great and Fiery Force (27)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(suggested in the UU hymnal)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sparkling in everything that lives;
In shining of the river’s course,
In greening grass that glory gives.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI Cannot Think of Them as Dead (96)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(suggested in the UU hymnal)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who walk with me no more;
Along the path of life I tread
They are but gone before.<\/p>\n\n\n\nLet Hope and Sorrow Now Unite (412)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(suggested in the UU hymnal)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To consecrate life’s ending.
And praise good friends now gone from sight
Though grief and loss are rending.
The story in a well-loved face,
The years and days our thoughts retrace,
Are treasures worth repeating.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMorning Has Broken (38)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(chosen by some UU families who want a more celebratory memorial service) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird
Praise for the singing!
Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing
Fresh from the Word!<\/p>\n\n\n\nMy Life Flows On in Endless Song (108)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(chosen by some UU families who want a more celebratory memorial service)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Above Earth’s lamentation
I catch the sweet, though far off hymn
That hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing
It sounds an echo in my soul,
How can I keep from singing?<\/p>\n\n\n\nPart in Peace (411)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
(suggested in the UU hymnal)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Praises sing for life and light.
Are the shadows lengthening o’er us?
Bless thy care who guards the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThere Is More Love Somewhere (95)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I’m going to keep on till I find it
There is more love somewhere<\/p>\n\n\n\n