Poetry & readings

Here is a small selection of the various readings you can have at a celebrant-led civil funeral. The reading can be personal and unique and reflect your loved one’s personality and passions.

Greif

There is a word, of grief the sounding token.

There is a word bejewelled with bright tears.

The saddest word fond lips have ever spoken,

A little word that breaks the chain of years.

It’s utterance must ever bring emotion,

The memories it crystals cannot die.

‘Tis known in every land, on every ocean,

It is Goodbye

Anon

.

"Sometimes it makes me sad, though... Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend."

-Red (Morgan Freeman), The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

ECCLESIASTES 3:1-4

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…

For whom the bell tolls

No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend's were.

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

John Donne (1572 – 1631)

Albus Dumbledore. 

"To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure, Do not pity the dead, pity the living, and above all, those who live without love. It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more". 

Oh Buddha!

We pray that

You receive and guide them to pure, carefree Buddhas' lands;

May they have no suffering or worries,

But rather receive only happiness;

May they be able to see you, see and hear your Path.

Now, their descendants, relatives, and good friends from all over, Stand before you, upright with respect,

Waiting respectfully for your great concern, protection, and care,

Waiting respectfully for you to receive, guide, and enlighten us.

Blowin in the Wind

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a man?

How many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly

Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist

Before it is washed to the sea?

Yes, and how many years can some people exist

Before they're allowed to be free?

Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head

And pretend that he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

Yes, and how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind

The answer is blowin' in the wind

Bob Dylan

If I should die,

And you should live,

And time should gurgle on,

And morn should beam,

And noon should burn,

As it has usual done;

If birds should build as early,

And bees as bustling go,—

One might depart at option

From enterprise below!

’T is sweet to know that stocks will stand

When we with daisies lie,

That commerce will continue,

And trades as briskly fly.

It makes the parting tranquil

And keeps the soul serene,

That gentlemen so sprightly

Conduct the pleasing scene!

Emily Dickinson