Scattering someone’s ashes is something that can be harder one to find words for than at a funeral. You don’t get a program or order of service instead there’s just a few people standing by the water or on a hillside. And someone has to say something before the ashes are let go.
A short poem can be just right for that moment. It says what most of us can’t manage to say while we’re holding an urn and puts in to words what we’re feeling.
So we here we have poems for scattering ashes at sea, in the wind, in the mountains and in a garden or favorite place. There are classics we all know, some short readings and verses and a few original poems you can use or adapt.
If you’re still planning the day itself our guide on how to plan an ashes scattering ceremony walks you through it.
Classic Poems for Scattering Ashes
These poems talk about being part of the world rather than gone from it, which feels right when you’re letting ashes go into the open air.
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 sunlight 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.
By Mary Elizabeth Frye
I think this is the most fitting poem there is for a scattering. Even with no grave at all, “I am a thousand winds that blow” says it all.
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Remember
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.
By Christina Rossetti
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Miss Me But Let Me Go
When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room
Why cry for a soul set free?
Miss me a little, but not too long
And not with your head bowed low
Remember the love that we once shared
Miss me, but let me go.
For this is a journey that we all must take
And each must go alone.
It’s all part of the Master’s plan
A step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick of heart
Go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds
Miss me, but let me go.
By Unknown
This one suits someone who didn’t want any fuss. “I want no rites in a gloom-filled room” is often exactly why a family chose a scattering in the first place.
Poems for Scattering Ashes at Sea
If your loved one loved the water, or spent their working life on it, a sea poem feels right. Read it just before the ashes go, while the boat is still or you’re standing at the shoreline. For more, see our funeral poems for sailors.
Crossing the Bar
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.
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Tennyson asked for this poem to be placed at the end of every collection of his work. It’s a favorite at sea scatterings.
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Sea-Fever
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.
By John Masefield
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Break, Break, Break
Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
O, well for the fisherman’s boy,
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O, well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanish’d hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
This is a sadder poem than the others. It’s honest about how much you miss someone, which some families prefer to a more comforting reading.
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Given to the Tide
We bring you down to the water
The way you always came,
With salt wind in the morning
And the gulls that knew your name.
We give you to the tide now,
To the blue that has no end,
And every wave that reaches shore
Will bring you back, old friend.
Poems for Scattering Ashes in the Wind or Mountains
For a hilltop, a mountain trail or anywhere high and open these poems talk about becoming part of the air and the land. Check which way the wind is blowing before you start reading.
From Song of Myself, 52
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.
By Walt Whitman
These are the closing lines of Song of Myself. “I depart as air” could almost have been written for a scattering.
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Requiem
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.
By Robert Louis Stevenson
Stevenson wrote this about a grave, but the last two lines are often read on their own at scatterings in the hills or by the coast.
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From Adonais
He is made one with Nature: there is heard
His voice in all her music, from the moan
Of thunder, to the song of night’s sweet bird;
He is a presence to be felt and known
In darkness and in light, from herb and stone,
Spreading itself where’er that Power may move
Which has withdrawn his being to its own;
Which wields the world with never-wearied love,
Sustains it from beneath, and kindles it above.
By Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shelley wrote Adonais for his friend John Keats. You can change “He” and “his” to “She” and “her” if it suits.
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On the Mountain
You always said the view was worth the climb,
So here we are, a little out of breath,
Standing where you stood so many times
And looking out the way you looked at life.
We let you go into the open sky,
Over the ridges and the valleys too.
Each time we come up here and feel the wind
We’ll know that we are walking next to you.
Poems for a Garden, Woods or Favorite Place
Not every scattering is somewhere grand. Many families choose a backyard garden, a quiet patch of woods or the park where someone walked the dog every morning. Before you plan one it’s worth reading up on what to do with ashes after cremation as some places need permission.
Song
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.
By Christina Rossetti
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Fear No More the Heat o’ the Sun
Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
By William Shakespeare (from Cymbeline)
This is the first verse of a song from the play. It’s short enough to read in one breath, which helps if you’re nervous.
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In the Garden
You planted every one of these,
The roses and the beans,
And knelt here every summer
With dirt beneath your nails.
So this is where we leave you,
In the soil you loved the most,
And when the first green shoots come up
We’ll know you never left.
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Our Place
This was always your place,
The bench, the bend in the path,
The light through the trees at four o’clock
And the bird you said was laughing.
We’ll come here when we miss you,
Which will be most days, I think.
And we’ll sit where you sat
And let the quiet do the talking.
Short Readings and Verses for Scattering Ashes
Sometimes a long poem is too much, especially outdoors with the wind taking your words. A line or two read just before the ashes go can be enough.
From Romeo and Juliet
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
By William Shakespeare
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These are some short original verses you can read, print on a card or write on the lid of a scattering tube:
- Go gently now, with wind and wave, to every place you loved.
- We let you go, but we will never let you be forgotten.
- Free as the wind, wide as the sea, part of everything forever.
- Back to the earth that held you, back to the sky you loved.
- You belong to the mountains now, and the mountains belong to you.
- Rest in the tide. Rise in the sun. Come home to us in every wave.
- Here you were happiest, and here you will stay.
- Fly now. We’ll look for you in every breeze.
- The river carries you on, and our love goes with you.
- Scattered here, but held together in our hearts.
- Every flower in this garden will grow a little brighter now.
- No goodbye, just see you in the sunrise.
- Let the wind take you where your feet always wanted to go.
- You loved this place. Now it gets to keep you.
- One last walk together, one last view, one last thank you.
SEE MORE: What to Say When Scattering Ashes
Religious Readings for Scattering Ashes
For a family of faith a short Bible reading can sit go with a poem or take its place. These are from the King James Version.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
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.
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Psalm 139:9-10
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
This one is especially lovely for a scattering at sea.
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Genesis 3:19 (last part)
For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
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Ecclesiastes 12:7
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Original Poems for Scattering Ashes
These are longer original poems for when you want something a little more personal. You can change the details so they sound like the person you’re saying goodbye to.
Where We Let You Go
We didn’t bring you here to say goodbye,
We brought you here because you loved it so.
The open air, the water and the sky,
The place you always said you’d want to go.
So take the wind, and take the morning light,
And take the part of us that’s going too.
We’ll carry all the rest of you from here,
And every time we’re back, we’ll be with you.
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Everywhere
You won’t be in one place now,
Not a stone or a single name.
You’ll be in the rain on the window
And the leaves in the autumn lane.
You’ll be in the smell of the ocean
And the hum of the summer bees,
In the field where we used to walk
And the light coming through the trees.
So I won’t need to visit,
I won’t need a place to stand.
I’ll just look up, or look around,
And there you’ll be again.
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For Dad, by the Lake
You taught us how to cast a line
And how to wait for a bite,
How to sit and say nothing
And call that a good night.
So here we sit and say nothing,
The water still and wide,
And let you go where you were happiest,
With your children by your side.
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A Small Goodbye
It’s only a handful of dust,
And yet it was all of you.
The laugh, the hands, the stubborn heart,
The way you saw things through.
So we give it back to the world,
Gently, the way you’d want,
And keep the parts that matter most
Right here, where they belong.
If you’re scattering a pet’s ashes, many of our pet loss poems work well outdoors too.
Tips for Reading a Poem When Scattering Ashes
- Keep it short. One poem, or two at most, is enough. Outdoors people get cold and the wind carries your voice away.
- Print it out in a large font. Your phone screen will be hard to read in bright sun and you won’t want to struggle with it.
- Put the paper in a plastic sleeve if you’ll be near water or there’s any chance of rain.
- Read the poem first, then scatter. It gives everyone a moment to gather themselves before the hardest part.
- Stand with your back to the wind when you scatter and let the ashes go low and close to the ground or water.
- Ask someone else to read if you think you won’t get through it.
- Change pronouns or small details so the poem fits.
- Leave a moment of quiet afterwards. You don’t need to fill it.
If you’d like a full running order to follow our ash scattering ceremony script shows where a poem fits alongside a welcome and a few words of remembrance. And if you’re looking for more general readings our non-religious funeral poems have more that work just as well outdoors.
However you choose to say goodbye a few lines read by someone who loved them, in a place they loved, is more than enough.