Funeral poems for Nanna: 8 readings in memory of Grandma
Do you need help choosing a poem for Grandma's funeral? Here are 8 poems that might fit the bill.
When someone dies, there are lots of emotions to process. At the same time, there are many practical tasks to complete, too.
Arranging a funeral is the main one. As well as selecting the venue, you need to choose readings and tributes for the funeral service.
A good funeral director will help you with the order of service. But you may want to make the choice yourself and end up feeling overwhelmed with possibilities.
The truth is that there are no right or wrong readings for a funeral. What's important is that they feel right for you and the person who has died.
Nevertheless, some people want guidance at this difficult time. For that reason, we've put together this list of eight beautiful poems that might suit Grandma's funeral. We hope it helps you give her the send-off she deserves.
Poems for Grandma's funeral
1. "Helga" by Carl Sandburg
Every grandma was a girl once. It's a simple thought that can bring up a lot of complicated feelings after someone dies.
This short poem by the American poet Carl Sandburg is filled with natural imagery and a sense of time passing.
The north has loved her; she will be
A grandmother feeding geese on frosty
Mornings; she will understand
Early snow on the cranberries
Better and better then.
Read "Helga" in full here.
2. "A Portable Paradise" by Roger Robinson
When a person dies, many emotions surface. One of these might be gratitude for the gifts they gave us.
It's a sentiment beautifully expressed by the British poet Roger Robinson in his poem "A Portable Paradise".
And if I speak of Paradise,
then I'm speaking of my grandmother
who told me to carry it always
on my person, concealed, so
no one else would know but me.
Read "A Portable Paradise" in full here.
H3. "Warning" by Jenny Joseph
Was your grandmother larger than life? Would she hate to think of her friends and family crying at her funeral? Then "Warning" by Jenny Joseph – once voted Britain's favourite poem – could be the perfect choice.
It's a funny and moving poem about refusing to grow old gracefully.
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me…
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
Read "Warning" in full here.
4. "Love (III)" by George Herbert
If your grandmother was religious, you may want a poem that reflects her beliefs. This classic poem by the 17th-century poet George Herbert shows a person slowly accepting God's love. It's presented as a dialogue between Man and Love:
Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back
Guilty of dust and sin.
The speaker resists Love before submitting in the poem's final lines:
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.
Read "Love (III)" in full here.
5. "Girl and Grandmother at the National Gallery" by Meg Bateman
Meg Bateman has written poems in both Gaelic and English. Her poem "Girl and Grandmother at the National Gallery" beautifully captures the differences between the generations:
to you she seems as old as the hills,
you little imagine your own hand wrinkled
or your back bent…
But it also captures what the girl and her grandmother have in common:
but you are contemporaries -
you walk this earth together.
Read "Girl and Grandmother at the National Gallery" in full here.
6. "The Death Bed" by Thomas Hood
In this poem, English poet Thomas Hood describes a girl or woman on her deathbed. It perfectly captures the uncertainty of the moment:
We thought her dying when she slept,
And sleeping when she died.
Hood ends the poem with an image of the afterlife:
Her quiet eyelids closed – she had
Another morn than ours.
Read "The Death Bed" in full here.
7. "Sestina" by Elizabeth Bishop
A sestina is a complicated poetic form. The word at the end of each line of the first verse is repeated throughout the poem in a particular pattern.
The words American poet Elizabeth Bishop chose for her sestina tell a story in themselves: house, grandmother, child, stove, almanac, tears.
It's a long poem, but one that conjures up a domestic scene with a girl and her grandma:
Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.
Read "Sestina" in full here.
8. "My Grandmother's Opal" by Grevel Lindop
For many people, early memories of grandparents often include their possessions. Objects like furniture, clothes and jewellery can make the past come flooding back.
This is the subject of Grevel Lindop's "My Grandmother's Opal" – how "her favourite stone" now seems "distant and enigmatic, bright and small / as now my memories of her".
some stories
and nonsense-rhymes she riddled me out of her childhood,
odd scents she used, her sharp, affectionate gaze
Read "My Grandmother's Opal" in full here.
How to choose a funeral poem for Nanna
When choosing a poem for Grandma's funeral, the most important thing is to think about her.
If she had a favourite poem or poet, the choice might be easy. If not, you may find it useful to think about the kind of person she was, the people in her life and the interests she had.
You may also find it useful to approach the task in a gentle, daydreaming way. Flick through anthologies and scroll through poems online until one speaks to you.
Perhaps the main thing to remember is that the poem is about Grandma. If she would like the sentiment in the poem, you've made the right choice.
AFD is an independent London funeral director. Are you looking for poems, readings or songs for a funeral? You'll find more inspiration on our blog.
