Can I print a poem in a funeral program?

Only if the poem is in the public domain or you have permission. Reading a poem aloud at a private service is generally treated differently from reproducing its text in a printed document you hand out. Every poem on this page is public domain in the United States and is safe to print, and each entry names the source and the reason.

How do I know whether a poem is in the public domain?

In the United States, works published in 1930 or earlier are in the public domain. Works published later may still be protected. Outside the United States, the common rule is the author's life plus seventy years, which means a poem can be free to print in one country and protected in another. When a poem's status is unclear, the safest approach is to name the poem in the program and read it aloud rather than reproducing the text.

What is the most common funeral reading?

Psalm 23 is the most widely read passage at English-language funerals. Among poems, Christina Rossetti's "Remember," Robert Louis Stevenson's "Requiem," and Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar" are the most frequently requested public-domain choices, and all three are short enough to read aloud comfortably.

How long should a funeral reading be?

One to two minutes, which is roughly fourteen to forty lines. Most services include one or two readings. Longer passages are difficult for a grieving reader to deliver and difficult for a standing congregation to follow, particularly at a graveside.

Who should read at a funeral?

Someone who can get through it. That is the only real requirement, and it is worth taking seriously. Ask a slightly more distant relative, a friend, or the officiant rather than the closest family member, and always have a second person prepared to step in.

TributeReady

Verified public domain · free to print

Funeral poems and readings you can legally print

Every poem and passage below is in the public domain in the United States, with the full text, the original source, and the reason it is free to use. Further down there is an honest list of the poems families request most often that still require permission.

Why this page checks the copyright

Most funeral poem lists online reproduce whatever is popular, including work that is firmly in copyright. That is a real problem for families, because printing a poem in a program is a reproduction, and it is a real problem for the funeral homes and churches that print on their behalf.

So each reading here carries its publication year, its source, and a plain statement of its rights status. In the United States, anything published in 1930 or earlier is in the public domain. Outside the United States the usual rule is the author's life plus seventy years, which is why a poem can be free in one country and protected in another.

If a poem you love is not on this list, you can still read it aloud at the service and name it in the program. Naming a work and reading it are different from reprinting its text.

We checked how common the problem is. Of the twelve top-ranking funeral poem pages we could analyze, eleven reproduced work that is in copyright or of disputed status, and one stated the public-domain status of anything.

Peace and release

For a long life, an expected death, or a service where the family wants the room to exhale.

Remember

Christina Rossetti · Written 1849, published 1862

The most frequently requested remembrance sonnet in English. It gives the living explicit permission to be happy again, which is often exactly what a grieving family needs said out loud by someone else.

Remember me when I am gone away,
  Gone far away into the silent land;
  When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more, day by day,
  You tell me of our future that you planned:
  Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
  And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
  For if the darkness and corruption leave
  A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
  Than that you should remember and be sad.

Rights: Public domain worldwide. Rossetti died in 1894.

Project Gutenberg, Poems (1866 American edition)

Song ("When I am dead, my dearest")

Christina Rossetti · Published 1862

Gentle and unsentimental. Often chosen for a woman, and well suited to a graveside service or a natural burial, because the imagery is grass, rain, and open air rather than monument and ceremony.

When I am dead, my dearest,
  Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
  Nor shady cypress-tree:
Be the green grass above me
  With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
  And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
  I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
  Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
  That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
  And haply may forget.

Rights: Public domain worldwide. Rossetti died in 1894.

Project Gutenberg, Poems (1866 American edition)

Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson · Published 1889

Tennyson asked that this be placed at the end of every edition of his poems. It is a favorite at services for sailors, veterans of the sea services, and anyone who lived near water, and it reads beautifully aloud.

Sunset and evening star,
  And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
  When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
  Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
  Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
  And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
  When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
  The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
  When I have crost the bar.

Rights: Public domain worldwide. Tennyson died in 1892.

Wikisource, Demeter and Other Poems (1889)

Psalm 121:1-4

King James Version · Published 1611

Short, and often chosen for someone who lived in or loved high country. Frequently used as a graveside reading, where brevity matters more than at any other point in the day.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Rights: Public domain in the United States. Crown letters patent apply in the United Kingdom.

King James Version, Psalm 121

Scripture and faith

The passages read most often at Christian funerals, in the King James text.

Death, Be Not Proud (Holy Sonnet 10)

John Donne · Written c. 1609, published 1633

Defiant rather than consoling. Chosen at Christian services when the family wants the reading to argue with death instead of accepting it. The spelling below has been modernized; Donne's original text differs.

Death, be not proud, though some have callèd thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Rights: Public domain worldwide. Donne died in 1631.

Wikisource, Holy Sonnets

Psalm 23

King James Version · Published 1611

The single most-read passage at funerals in the English-speaking world. Nearly everyone in the room will know it, and many will say it along with the reader, which is often the point.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
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.

Rights: The King James Version is in the public domain in the United States. In the United Kingdom it remains under perpetual Crown letters patent, though reproduction for worship and funeral use is permitted.

King James Version, Psalm 23

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

King James Version · Published 1611

The "a time to" passage. It works at religious and secular services alike, because it frames a death as part of an order rather than as a rupture. Often read for someone who lived a long life.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Rights: Public domain in the United States. Crown letters patent apply in the United Kingdom.

King James Version, Ecclesiastes 3

John 14:1-3

King James Version · Published 1611

Short, and one of the most commonly selected Gospel readings at Christian funerals. Frequently paired with Psalm 23 when a service needs two readings.

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Rights: Public domain in the United States. Crown letters patent apply in the United Kingdom.

King James Version, John 14

Grief and love

For a death that was too early, or when the family does not want the service to rush past the loss.

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Emily Dickinson · Published 1890

Quiet and strange rather than comforting, and a good choice when conventional readings would feel false. The version below is the 1890 edited text, which is the one in the public domain and the one most often read aloud.

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then 'tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Rights: Public domain. First published in Poems by Emily Dickinson (1890), edited by Mabel Loomis Todd and T. W. Higginson.

Project Gutenberg, Poems by Emily Dickinson

To an Athlete Dying Young

A. E. Housman · Published 1896 in A Shropshire Lad

Written for a young death, and honest about it rather than consoling. Read at services for athletes and for young people generally, though the family should read it through first, because it does not soften anything.

The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields where glory does not stay,
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.

Rights: Public domain. A Shropshire Lad was published in 1896.

Wikisource, A Shropshire Lad

Gratitude and a life well lived

For a celebration of life, or a service that is meant to end with something other than sorrow.

Requiem

Robert Louis Stevenson · Published 1887 in Underwoods

Eight lines, and the shortest reading here that still feels complete. Stevenson wrote it as his own epitaph and it is carved on his tomb in Samoa. Frequently chosen for someone who traveled, sailed, hunted, or simply got what they wanted out of their life.

Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

Rights: Public domain worldwide. Stevenson died in 1894.

Wikisource, Underwoods (1887)

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost · Published 1923

Eight lines about impermanence that never mentions death. Works well as an opening reading, particularly at a celebration of life, and is short enough to print on a program panel without crowding the page.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Rights: Public domain in the United States. First published in 1923 in New Hampshire, so United States copyright has expired. Copyright terms differ in some other countries.

Wikisource, New Hampshire (1923)

Frequently requested, but not free to print

These are among the most-requested funeral readings in English, and all of them are reproduced constantly without permission. You can read them aloud at a private service. Printing the text in a program is a different act, and it is the one that creates risk.

She Is Gone (also published as He Is Gone)

David Harkins, 1981

In copyright. It circulates almost everywhere credited to an anonymous author, and that missing credit is usually why people assume it is free to print. It is not. Of the twelve most visible funeral poem pages we reviewed, nine reproduced it.

Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

Attributed to Mary Elizabeth Frye, c. 1932

Authorship was disputed for decades and the copyright position has never been fully settled. It is reproduced widely, including by funeral homes, but its status is not the same as a clearly expired copyright.

The Dash

Linda Ellis, 1996

In copyright and actively licensed. The rights holder has historically pursued unlicensed reproductions, including by small businesses and individuals. Seek permission before printing it in a program.

When Great Trees Fall

Maya Angelou, 1990

In copyright. Reading it aloud at a private service is a different matter from reproducing the text in a printed program, which requires permission from the publisher.

Funeral Blues ("Stop all the clocks")

W. H. Auden, 1936 and 1938

In copyright in the United States and in most countries. Very frequently requested since its use in film, and very frequently reprinted without permission.

Song lyrics of any kind

Modern popular music

Almost always in copyright. Playing a recording at a private service is generally acceptable; printing the lyrics in a program is a separate reproduction and normally requires a license.

Note: This page is general information, not legal advice. Copyright terms vary by country and by the specific edition of a work. If you are unsure, name the poem in the program rather than reprinting it.

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Common questions

Can I print a poem in a funeral program?: Only if the poem is in the public domain or you have permission. Reading a poem aloud at a private service is generally treated differently from reproducing its text in a printed document you hand out. Every poem on this page is public domain in the United States and is safe to print, and each entry names the source and the reason.
How do I know whether a poem is in the public domain?: In the United States, works published in 1930 or earlier are in the public domain. Works published later may still be protected. Outside the United States, the common rule is the author's life plus seventy years, which means a poem can be free to print in one country and protected in another. When a poem's status is unclear, the safest approach is to name the poem in the program and read it aloud rather than reproducing the text.
What is the most common funeral reading?: Psalm 23 is the most widely read passage at English-language funerals. Among poems, Christina Rossetti's "Remember," Robert Louis Stevenson's "Requiem," and Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar" are the most frequently requested public-domain choices, and all three are short enough to read aloud comfortably.
How long should a funeral reading be?: One to two minutes, which is roughly fourteen to forty lines. Most services include one or two readings. Longer passages are difficult for a grieving reader to deliver and difficult for a standing congregation to follow, particularly at a graveside.
Who should read at a funeral?: Someone who can get through it. That is the only real requirement, and it is worth taking seriously. Ask a slightly more distant relative, a friend, or the officiant rather than the closest family member, and always have a second person prepared to step in.

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