Help me find a funeral poem / reading for my mum

[Crunchymum]

Non religious, doesn't have to be funeral or death related per se.

I know its very personal but I've spent the whole day looking and have drawn a blank.

I can’t repay the lessons you taught when I was small or give you gift for gift the daily treasures I recall

I can’t return encouragement or loving words of praise in quite the way you did for me throughout my childhood days.

But there is one gift I can give, and it’s all the love you’ve earned - for love is what you taught and love is what I learned.

My husband read this on my behalf at my Dads funeral. Short and simple but meaningful.

I’m so sorry for your loss I hope the funeral goes as best as it can. Sending love xxx

Really sorry you’ve lost your mum.
This is short but apt I think?

Time will not dim the face I love,
The voice I heard each day,
The many things you did for me,
In your own special way.
All my life I’ll miss you,
As the years come and go,
But in my heart I’ll keep you,
Because I love you so.

@MahMahMahMahCorona

There's one called The Dash by Linda Ellis:

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning... to the end.

He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time they spent alive on earth and now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own, the cars... the house... the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard; are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left that still can be rearranged.

To be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile... remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read, with your life's actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you lived your dash?

I was going to suggest The Dash too. We had that at my mums funeral. Really makes you think x

So sorry for your loss.

Only One Mother
By an Unknown Author

Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky,
Hundreds of shells on the shore together,
Hundreds of birds that go singing by,
Hundreds of birds in the sunny weather.
Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.

@Crunchymum

Non religious, doesn't have to be funeral or death related per se.

I know its very personal but I've spent the whole day looking and have drawn a blank.

Also sorry for your loss

@MuchTooTired

I’m so sorry for your loss. I read death is nothing at all by canon Henry Scott-Halland at my beloved aunts funeral. I felt that it was the only thing I read that summed up and made sense to me at the time and it brought me great comfort.

A little bit from it here:

Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into 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.

💐

We had this at my mum's funeral in April. My niece read it beautifully. I think of it often, I used to laugh all the time with my mum and I think if she'd chosen something she might well have chosen this.

I'm so sorry for your loss @Crunchymum. There are some wonderful suggestions here. You'll know the right one when you find it.

Thank you all, I've posted a few times in recent weeks and the support has been hugely appreciated.

I think we are going to use something from one of Winnie to Pooh books (my dads nickname for my mum was one of the characters) and I have lots to suggest when I meet with my dad and siblings over the weekend.

I have since found this, and for me, its one of the most beautiful things I've ever read.

I'm also so sorry for anyone who has been through this or is going through this

@MooseBeTimeForSummer

The last chapter of The House at Pooh Corner?

I thought of that too. I'm not sure it would fit exactly but it's so beautiful. It always makes me cry.

I think we are going to use something from one of Winnie to Pooh books

This is the end of The House at Pooh Corner I think it's beautiful.

Then, suddenly again, Christopher Robin, who was still looking at the world, with his chin in his hand, called out "Pooh!" "Yes?" said Pooh. "When I'mwhenPooh!" "Yes, Christopher Robin?" "I'm not going to do Nothing any more." "Never again?" "Well, not so much. They don't let you." Pooh waited for him to go on, but he was silent again. "Yes, Christopher Robin?" said Pooh helpfully. "Pooh, when I'myou knowwhen I'm not doing Nothing, will you come up here sometimes?" "Just me?" "Yes, Pooh." "Will you be here too?" "Yes Pooh, I will be really. I promise I will be Pooh." "That's good," said Pooh. "Pooh, promise you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a hundred." Pooh thought for a little. "How old shall I be then?" "Ninety-nine." Pooh nodded. "I promise," he said. Still with his eyes on the world Christopher Robin put out a hand and felt Pooh's paw. "Pooh," said Christopher Robin earnestly, "if Iif I'm not quite" he stopped and tried again-- "Pooh, whatever happens, you will understand, won't you?" "Understand what?" "Oh, nothing." He laughed and jumped to his feet. "Come on!" "Where?" said Pooh. "Anywhere." said Christopher Robin

So, they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.