Some useful resources
Popular poems to read at a Celebration of Life
Poem of Life
Life is but a stopping place,
A pause in what's to be,
A resting place along the road,
to sweet eternity.
We all have different journeys,
Different paths along the way,
We all were meant to learn some things,
but never meant to stay...
Our destination is a place,
Far greater than we know.
For some the journey's quicker,
For some the journey's slow.
And when the journey finally ends,
We'll claim a great reward,
And find an everlasting peace,
Together with the Lord.
– Anon
She Is gone (He Is gone)
You can shed tears that she is gone,
Or you can smile because she has lived;
You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back,
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left.
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her,
Or you can be full of the love that you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday;
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her and only that she is gone,
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back,
Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.
— David Harkins
Remember
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into a 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 afterward remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than you should remember and be sad.
– Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
I'm Fine Thank You!
There is nothing the matter with me,
I'm as healthy as I can be;
I have arthritis in both my knees,
And when I talk, I talk with a wheeze;
My pulse is weak and my blood is thin,
But I'm awfully well for the shape I am in.
Arch supports I have for my feet,
Or I wouldn't be able to be on the street.
Sleep is denied me night after night,
But every morning I find I'm alright.
My memory is failing, my head's in a spin,
But I'm awfully well for the shape I am in.
The moral is this, as my tale unfolds–
That for you and me who are growing old,
It's better to say "I'm fine" with a grin,
Than to let folks know the shape we are in.
So how do I know that my youth is all spent?
Well, my 'get up and go' has got up and went.
But I really don't mind when I think with a grin
Of all the grand places my 'get up' has bin!
- Anon
Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.
– Mary Elizabeth Frye
Afterglow
I'd like the memory of me
to be a happy one.
I'd like to leave an afterglow
of smiles when life is done.
I'd like to leave an echo
whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times
and bright and sunny days.
I'd like the tears of those who grieve,
to dry before the sun
of happy memories
that I leave when life is done.
Remember
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into a 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 afterward remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than you should remember and be sad.
– Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
Excerpt from 'Ode on Intimations of Immortality'
What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
― William Wordsworth
Gone from my sight
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze,
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch her until she hangs like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: “There! She’s gone!”
Gone where? Gone from my sight – that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side,
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in me, and not in her.
And just at the moment
when someone at my side says: “There! She’s gone!”
there are other eyes that are watching for her coming;
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
“There she comes!”
And that is dying...
– Luther F. Beecher/Henry van Dyke
All is well
All is well
Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Whatever we were to each other, we still are.
Please, call me by my old familiar name.
Speak of me in the same easy way you always did.
Laugh, as we always laughed, at the little jokes we shared together.
Think of me and smile.
Let my name be the household name it always was,
Spoken without the shadow of a ghost in it.
Life means all it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
Death is inevitable, so why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, - for an interval very near.
Nothing is past or lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before,
Only better and happier.
Together forever.
All is well.
– Henry Scott Holland
Venues
A range of popular places in and around Hereford for a wake (family gathering and refreshments) following a Celebration of Life. I have no connection with any of these, but the families I have served have reported favourably and I offer the contact details which may be helpful at a busy time.
The Chapel Florist and Tea Room, Hereford Cemetery HR4 0JE
Kelly: 01432 269751
https://www.thechapelfloristandtearooms.co.uk/
Aylestone Court Hotel, 2 Aylestone Hill, Hereford HR1 1HS
Jo or Michael: 01432 341891
The Bay Horse Inn, 236 Kings Acre Rd, Hereford HR4 0SD
Neil: 01432 273351
https://www.bayhorseinnhereford.co.uk/The_Bay_Horse_Inn_Buffets_and_Functions
Hereford Rowing Club, Greyfriars Avenue, Hereford HR4 0BE
Paul: 01432 273915
https://www.herefordrc.co.uk/page/birthdays_christenings_and_parties/
Three Counties Hotel, Belmont Road, Hereford HR2 7BP
Michelle: 01432 299995
https://www.threecountieshotel.co.uk/banqueting/
The Monument, Whitecross Road, Hereford HR4 0LT
01432 273180
https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/herefordshire/monument/
The Three Elms, 1 Canon Pyon Rd, Hereford HR4 9QQ
01432 273338
https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/herefordshire/three-elms/
Rose and Crown, 152 Ledbury Road, Tupsley, Hereford HR1 1 RG
01432 273272
https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/herefordshire/rose-crown/
The Grove Golf and Bowl, Fordbridge, Leominster, Herefordshire HR6 0LE
01568 610602
https://www.grovegolfandbowl.co.uk/dine/
The Dog Inn, Ewyas Harold, Hereford HR2 0EX.
01981 240598
www.thedoginnpubhereford.co.uk
Burghill Valley Golf Club, Tillington Road, Burghill, Hereford HR4 7RW
01432 760456
http://www.bvgc.co.uk