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

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

https://aylestonecourt.com/

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/