astrid Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 My dear friend's father passed away last week, and she's looking for a quotation or passage to read at his burial. The don't want anything religious, but a poem or passage that's more about a life that has made a difference, a life with meaning or a life well-lived. Can you think of anything?? Thanks so much, astrid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome. Isaac Asimov http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/death/ hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MariannNOVA Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 At my dad's funeral, we had an actor do a dramatic reading of 'I will not go gently into that great night.' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 At my grandma's funeral, my dad read Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop for Death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Inscription for a Gravestone BY ROBINSON JEFFERS I am not dead, I have only become inhuman: That is to say, Undressed myself of laughable prides and infirmities, But not as a man Undresses to creep into bed, but like an athlete Stripping for the race. The delicate ravel of nerves that made me a measurer Of certain fictions Called good and evil; that made me contract with pain And expand with pleasure; Fussily adjusted like a little electroscope: That’s gone, it is true; (I never miss it; if the universe does, How easily replaced!) But all the rest is heightened, widened, set free. I admired the beauty While I was human, now I am part of the beauty. I wander in the air, Being mostly gas and water, and flow in the ocean; Touch you and Asia At the same moment; have a hand in the sunrises And the glow of this grass. I left the light precipitate of ashes to earth For a love-token. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 My dear friend's father passed away last week, and she's looking for a quotation or passage to read at his burial. The don't want anything religious, but a poem or passage that's more about a life that has made a difference, a life with meaning or a life well-lived. Can you think of anything?? Thanks so much, astrid I wrote the elegy I read at my grandfather's funeral, the theme was based around the General Patton quote, "pressure makes diamonds." Maybe she could find a quote that inspires her? What do you know about her father? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Do not stand at my grave and weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye Do not stand at my grave and weep,I am not there, I do not sleep.I am in a thousand winds that blow,I am the softly falling snow.I am the gentle showers of rain,I am the fields of ripening grain.I am in the morning hush,I am in the graceful rushOf beautiful birds in circling flight,I am the starshine of the night.I am in the flowers that bloom,I am in a quiet room.I am in the birds that sing,I am in each lovely thing.Do not stand at my grave bereftI am not there. I have not left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mejane Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Love this: What Is Success? To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that one life has breathed easier because you lived here. This is to have succeeded. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrid Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Thanks so much, everyone! I've passed them along.... astrid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 If he was a outward-bound do-er, the poem To Be of Use, or perhaps the closing of Song of Myself: The last scud of day holds back for me, It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds, It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk. I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun, I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags. I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood. Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 At my dad's funeral, we had an actor do a dramatic reading of 'I will not go gently into that great night.' This poem is nicely alterable, and I love to recite it twisted around, when I think of my very, very ancient Papa going when he wanted to go: Oh do go gentle into that good night, Sing, sigh, with the dying of the light. The rest of the poem can be altered similarly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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