Reading for Mum's funeral - suggestions please

[wild]

Please can anyone suggest a reading/poem for my mother's funeral? Mum was a lively selfless lady who died suddenly of a heart attack on her way back from Spain. She was not religious. I want to read something that will celebrate her life as well as saying how much she is missed.

[MissusWoman]

no suggestions for reading, just wanted to say sorry to hear about your loss wild X

[lailag]

Didn't like any of the poems/readings which were suggested to me at the time. They all seemed so impersonal. Ended up reading from the yearbook of her final year at university...

[wilbur]

I'm so very sorry to hear of your loss, wild. My thoughts are with you. I read the following at my father's memorial service and I think it is lovely. It is written by a Benedictine Monk, but I don't feel it is obviously religious.

Extract from Wherever You Go by Gregory Norbert O.S.B.

I want to say something to all of you
who have become a part
of the fabric of my life.

The color and texture
which you have brought into my being
have become a song,
and I want to sing it forever.

There is an energy in us
which makes things happen
when the paths of other persons
touch ours.
And we have to be there,
and let it happen.

When the time of
our particular sunset comes
our thing,
our accomplishment
won't really matter
a great deal.

But the clarity and care
with which we have loved others
will speak with vitality
of the great gift of life
we have been for each other.

Copyright The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont

[Shimmy21]

I'm so sorry wild.

I have just been to my aunt's funeral where a friend read a beautiful native American poem. I'm sorry not to be able to have found exactly that one but there are some lovely readings suggested
\link{http://www.ifishoulddie.co.uk/poems.htm\here

[Shimmy21]

Sorry link didn't work but go to www.ifishoulddie.co.uk and click on poems and words of comfort. Hope it helps

[shortcake]

I had the following poem just printed on the order of service for my mothers funeral - I love the message it gives which is exactly what my mother would have wanted to say:

If I should die and leave you here a while,
be not like others sore undone,
who keep long vigil by the silent dust.
For my sake turn again to life and smile,
nerving thy heart and trembling hand
to do something to comfort other hearts than thine.
Complete these dear unfinished tasks of mine
and I perchance may therein comfort you.

[Spod]

so sorry to hear of your loss.... heres the url of a thread i started when my grandad dies earlier this year, has some lovely poems... we had 'lonely is the home without you' on his memorial card. take care.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=9&threadid=16995

[womba1]

Wild, so sorry to hear about your sad loss x
I read the following verse at my Auntie's funeral last year...

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 too 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 bigger plan,
A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick of heart,
Go to the friends we know,
And bury your sorrow in doing good deeds,
Miss me but let me go.

[wild]

Just to say thank you, everyone. Funeral was yesterday and went really well, it was not as sad as I had imagined but a really fitting tribute to her.

[fostermum]

i remember my uncle had a reading about how the wasnt gone he had just walked through a door where he was waiting can remeber it but it was beautiful, i wish i could find it again

[JanH]

fostermum, is it this?

All Is Well

Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
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 world 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 it 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

[JanH]

wild, I'm glad the funeral went well - I missed the start of your thread because we were away or I would have offered what we had for my dad (also not religious) -

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

What did you have in the end?

[SantaFio2]

someone sent me all is well in a sympathy card when my sister dioed. I thought it was a lovely poem, even though I cried buckets

my sister had 'footprints' read out I think, i cant remember there were a few, itwas a blur

[JanH]

I bet it was, fio

I like All is Well - I know some people don't because of the first line but the rest of it is so right. Your sis is definitely just around the corner!

[SantaFio2]

omg, it is so emotive I just read it aloud and started crying!

But you are right Jan, i really think she is always here, round the corner or whatever. My ds tells me she messes up his trains and talks as if she plays with him, it is weird but funny

wild, i really hope you are okay {{{{{{{}}}}}} when you mentioned last week that your mum had died, i didnt actually realise it was so sudden and recent. Like I said the washing line scenario was the worst for me and seeing friends again. i went to a childrens birthday party about a month after my sisters death and it felt like torture. i really hope you are well x

[ragtaggle]

So sorry to hear your news wild. I hope the funeral was okay and you found something fitting to say. Janh - I wish I'd known about that Joyce Grenfell poem when my dad died. He'd have liked it - it's great

[fostermum]

thats the one JANH BLESS i will now keep it somewhere safe