Poems for an uncle's funeral: 8 memorial verses and readings
Are you looking for a memorial poem or reading for the funeral of an uncle? Explore 9 beautiful and moving options.
When a family member dies, many people like to personalise the funeral service with poems and readings. Often, poetry can express feelings that we find hard to put into words.
If they had a favourite poem or text, you could include that in the service. If not, you can have a look through poetry anthologies in the library or bookshop.
In case you still need inspiration, we've compiled this list of eight beautiful memorial verses and readings for an uncle's funeral. We hope it helps you choose the right reading for the occasion.
Uncle funeral poems and readings
1. "Holy Sonnets: Death be not proud" by John Donne
This classic 17th-century poem by John Donne begins with a challenge to death:
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so…
Death, says Donne, is not the end – so we have nothing to fear from something so often considered "mighty and dreadful":
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
2. "Felix Randal" by Gerard Manley Hopkins
This poem is a tribute to a farrier – a person who shoes horses. It bursts with emotion. But the emotions at play are varied: from grief to admiration, and from empathy to religious insight.
Unlike many tributes and poems about death, "Felix Randal" doesn't end when the subject dies. Instead, it rewinds to a time when Felix was in his prime:
How far from then forethought of, all thy more boisterous years,
When thou at the random grim forge, powerful amidst peers,
Didst fettle for the great grey drayhorse his bright and battering sandal!
3. "Immortality" by Clare Harner
First published in 1934 – and often incorrectly attributed to Mary Elizabeth Frye – "Immortality" is most famous for its opening lines:
Do not stand
By my grave, and weep.
Like "Death be not proud", "Immortality" insists that death is not the end. In this case, however, the person who died has become part of nature:
I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
4. Psalm 23 ("The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want")
Taken from the Biblical Book of Psalms, this is one of the most beloved verses in the Bible and a popular choice at funerals.
It portrays God as a caring shepherd, comforting his flock as they walk through "the valley of the shadow of death". Combined with its reminder of life after death, this can be comforting to people mourning an uncle who died. It concludes:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
5. "Farewell My Friends" by Rabindranath Tagore
This poem by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore is a much-loved memorial verse. It's a peaceful, reflective farewell from the point of view of the person who died. The speaker reminds the audience that memory is a kind of immortality:
When you live in the hearts
Of those you love
Remember then
You never die.
6. "Epitaph on my own Friend" by Robert Burns
Sometimes, uncles and aunts feel like friends as much as family. This poem by the Scottish poet Robert Burns celebrates someone who lived life to the full and had a positive influence on those around him. It's short, sweet and very touching:
The friend of man, the friend of truth;
The friend of age, and guide of youth…
If there's another world, he lives in bliss;
If there is none, he made the best of this.
7. "Crossing the Bar" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote many memorial verses. A notable example is his book-length tribute to a friend, In Memoriam.
However, it's his shorter poem "Crossing the Bar" that often makes an appearance at funerals.
Spoken from the perspective of someone reflecting on death, the poem portrays death as an adventure, sailing out to sea at twilight:
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark…
At the end of the journey, the poet hopes he will "see [his] Pilot" face to face. This is a reference to 1 Corinthians in the Bible, where "now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face".
8. Sonnet 71 ("No longer mourn for me when I am dead") by William Shakespeare
Last but not least, we have Shakespeare's beloved sonnet "No longer mourn for me when I am dead". Unlike many memorial poems, the poet asks his loved one to forget about him:
for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
With its emphasis on love and the grief of parting, this sonnet could be a moving choice of reading for an uncle's funeral.
Akshardham Funeral Directors is an independent funeral home based in North London. Explore more poems, songs and funeral ideas.
