POEMS AS WE LOOK BACK

POEMS & READINGS:

As with all hymns, readings and poems

there are numerous versions now in circulation – should you wish to use a

different version of any of these listed here or any other favourite

poem that you have access to; then we will gladly use any alternative

that you can supply to us for your loved one’s service sheets.

POEMS

AS WE LOOK BACK

As we look back over time we find ourselves wondering ... Did we remember to thank you enough for all you have done for us?

For all the times you were by our sides, to help and support us. To celebrate our successes, to understand our problems

and accept our defeats?

Or for teaching us by your example, the value of hard work, good judgement, courage and integrity?

We wonder if we ever thanked you for the sacrifices you made, To let us have the very best?

And for the simple things like laughter, smiles and times we shared? If we have forgotten to show our gratitude enough for all the things you did,

We're thanking you now and we are hoping you knew all along how much you meant to us.

Author Unknown

Poem used at the funeral of the Queen Mother (2002)

(this poem can be adapted for a man)

You can shed tears that she is gone Or you can smile because she has lived

You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left

Your heart can be empty because you can't see her Or you can be full of the love that you shared You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday

You can remember her and only that she is gone Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

written 1981 David Harkins 1959 -

If I Should go Tomorrow

If I should go tomorrow It would never be goodbye, For I have left my heart with you,

So don't you ever cry. The love that's deep within me,

Shall reach you from the stars, You'll feel it from the heavens,

And it will heal the scars.

Author Unknown

Mum Lived Her Life for Love of Friends and Family

(this poem can be adapted for a Father)

Mum lived her life for love of friends and family, Neither asking for nor wanting a return.

Her days became a sunlit homily; With others' joy her joy and main concern.

When we were ill, she also became sick; When we were cut, she, too, began to bleed.

Of our oil lamp she was the wick, Drawing her bright flame from our need. Some say that such behaviour’s out of date:

That self-fulfilment is the way to grace. But Mum, without much choice, then chose her fate,

Finding greater truth in an embrace. She lives on in the sparkle in our eyes:

Laughing, quiet, gentle, loving, wise.

Author Unknown

Do not stand at my grave and weep;

I am not there, I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn’s rain. When you awaken in the morning’s hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circled flight… I am the soft starts that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry; I am not there, I did not die.

Written by: Elizabeth Frye 1904 - 2004

often accredited to: Bombardier Stephen Cummings 32 Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery

All Is Well

Death is nothing at all,

I have only slipped away into the next room I am I, and you are you,

Whatever we were to each other, that we still are. Call me by my old familiar name,

Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone,

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes 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 effect, without the trace of shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant

It is the same as it ever was. There is unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,

Just around the corner. All is well.

Henry Scott Holland: 1847-1918 Canon of St Paul 's Cathedral

Life Goes On

If I should go before the rest of you, Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone, Nor when I am gone speak in a Sunday voice,

But be the usual selves that I have known. Weep if you must, Parting is hell - But life goes on, So .... sing as well.

Joyce Grenfell 1910-1979

NEXT TO YOU

You cannot see or touch me But I’m standing next to you. Your tears can only hurt me, Your sadness makes me blue. Be brave and show a smiling face

Let not your grief show through I love you from a different place,

Yet I’m standing next to you.

After Glow

to be a happy one. I’d like to leave an after glow

of smiles when life is done. I’d like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways, of happy times and laughing times

and bright and sunny days. I’d like the tears of those who grieve,

to dry before the sun of happy memories that I leave when life is done.

Jenna Lundin

Weymouth, MA USA written 2006

I’m Free

Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free I’m following the path God has chosen, you see.

I took His hand when I heard him call I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day. To laugh, to love, to work, to play. Tasks left undone must stay that way I’ve now found peace at the end of the day.

If my parting has left a void then fill it with remembered joy. A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss Ah yes, these things I too will miss. Be not burdened with times of sorrow

I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow. My life’s been full; I savoured much; Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief; don’t lengthen it now with undue grief. Lift up your hearts and peace to thee God wanted me now; He set me free.

When I Must Leave You

When I must leave you For a little while - Please do not grieve

And shed wild tears And hug your sorrow to you

Through the years, But start out bravely With a gallant smile; And for my sake And for my name

Live on and do All things the same, Feed not your lonliness

On empty days, But fill each waking hour

In useful ways, Reach out your hand In comfort and in cheer And I in turn will comfort you

And hold you near; And never, never

Be afraid to die

For I am waiting for you in the sky! by Helen Steiner Rice 1900-1981

Miss me, but let me go

When I come to the end of the road And the sun has set for me I want no rites in a gloom filled room

Why cry for a soul set free? Miss me a little, but not for long And not with your head bowed low Remember the love that once we shared

Miss me, but let me go. For this is a journey we all must take

And each must go alone. It's all part of the master plan

A step on the road to home. When you are lonely and sick at heart

Go the friends we know. Laugh at all the things we used to do

Miss me, but let me go.

Life must go on

Grieve for me, for I would grieve for you. Then brush away the sorrow and the tears

Life is not over, but begins anew, with courage you must greet the coming years.

To live forever in the past is wrong; can only cause you misery and pain.

Dwell not on memories overlong, with others you must share and care again. Reach out and comfort those who comfort you;

recall the years, but only for a while. Nurse not your loneliness; but live again.

Forget not. Remember with a smile.

a Navaho Prayer

In Flanders fields

Between the crosses, row on row That mark our places, and in the sky

The larks still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amidst the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow. Loved and were loved and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe To you from failing hands we throw

The torch, be yours to hold it high If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields

Punch: Dec 8th 1915 Lt-Colonel John McRae

Doctor, Soldier, Author, Artist and Poet 1872 - 1918

Family o' mine:

I should like to send you a sunbeam, or the twinkle of some bright star, or a tiny piece of the downy fleece that clings to a cloud afar. I should like to send you the essence of a myriad sun-kissed flowers,

or the lilting song as it floats along, of a brook through fairy bowers. I should like to send you the dew-drops that glisten at break of day,

and then at night the eerie light that mantles the Milky Way. I should like to send you the power that nothing can overthrow - the power to smile and laugh the while a-journeying through life you go.

But these are mere fanciful wishes; I'll send you a Godspeed instead, and I'll clasp your hand - then you'll understand all the things I have left unsaid

Author Unknown

Remember Me

Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand,

Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you planned:

Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.

Think of Me

Remember Me: To the living, I am gone. To the sorrowful, I will never return.

To the angry, I was cheated, But to the happy, I am at peace, And to the faithful, I have never left. I cannot be seen, but I can be heard.

So as you stand upon a shore, gazing at a beautiful sea - remember me.

As you look in awe at a mighty forest and its grand majesty - remember me.

As you look upon a flower and admire its simplicity - remember me. Remember me in your heart, your thoughts,

and your memories of the times we loved, the times we cried, the times we fought,

and the times we laughed.

For if you always think of me, I will never be gone.

Author Unknown

When I am dead

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.

I shall not see the shadows, I shall not fear 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.

A Special Bridge

Our memories build a special bridge When loved ones have to part To help us feel were with them still

And soothe a grieving heart They span the years and warm our lives

Preserving ties that bind Our memories build a special bridge

And bring us peace of mind

Emily Mathews

They Shall Not Grow Old

They shall grow not old, as we who 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 shall remember them.

Lawrence Binyon: 1869-1943

Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead, Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

READINGS

In Memoriam

Oh, yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill, To panys of nature, sins of will, Defects of doubt, and taints of blood; That nothing walks with aimless feet; That not one life shall be destroyed,

Or cast as rubbish to the void, When God hath made the pile complete;

That not a worm is cloven in vain; That not a moth with vain desire

Is shriveled in fruitless fire, Or but subserves another’s gain.

Behold, we know not anything; I can but trust that good shall fall

At last – far off – at last, to all, And every winter change to spring … This truth came borne with bier and pall,

I felt it when I sorrowed most, ‘Tis better to have loved and lost,

Than never to have loved at all.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson: 1809-1892

IF

But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

RUDYARD KIPLING 1865-1936

Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead, Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

John 14:1-26

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where

I am going.’ Thomas said to him. ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now

on you do know him and have seen him.’

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him. ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very

truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything,

I will do it.

‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither see him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides

with you, and he will be in you.

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am

in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear

is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I