When I first lost a coworker it really shocked me. We weren’t best friends outside of work but we’d shared all the usual things colleagues do – bad coffee, inside jokes, complaining about Monday mornings etc.
When she was gone I realized how much of my ordinary life she’d been part of and how strange it was to look over at an empty desk.
If you’re reading this you might be in the same place. A colleague has died and you’ve been asked to read something at the service or your team wants to include something in a card or you just want some words that fit with losing someone you worked alongside.
It isn’t the same as losing family and it isn’t quite the same as losing a friend either. It’s its own grief.
A poem can help when we’re struggling. Below you’ll find funeral poems that suit a coworker or colleague. I’ve also mentioned some famous poems by name that you may want to look up, plus a few notes on reading one at a workplace memorial.
Funeral Poems for a Coworker
These longer poems work well as a reading at a memorial service or celebration of life, especially if you’re representing the team or workplace.
Death Is Nothing At All
Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.
All is well.
Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!
By Henry Scott Holland
There’s a reason this one turns up at so many services. The lines about being called by the old familiar name and laughing at the little jokes you enjoyed together land especially hard for a coworker, because that’s so often exactly what the friendship was made of.
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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 at length
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 is 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 destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says:
“There, she is gone!”
there are other eyes watching her coming,
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
“Here she comes!”
By Henry Van Dyke (attributed)
SEE MORE: Touching Funeral Poems
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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 a 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
Short Funeral Poems for a Colleague
If you’re collecting a few lines for a card from the team or the department, you’ll want something short. A long reading can feel like too much in a card that twenty people are signing. These shorter verses were written for the site so you’re free to use them, adapt them, or sign them from the whole office.
We shared the early mornings,
the deadlines and the breaks,
the quiet wins, the long weeks,
and all the small mistakes.
You were part of every ordinary day,
and that is no small thing.
The desk feels different now you’re gone,
but oh, the joy you’d bring.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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Not just a colleague, more a friend,
who made the work feel light.
We’ll carry on the way you’d want,
and keep your memory bright.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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The team is not the same today,
your chair sits empty by the door.
But every kindness that you showed
will live in us, and so much more.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
SEE MORE: Condolence Messages for Colleagues and Coworkers
A Poem for a Coworker Who Became a Friend
Some colleagues become genuine friends. If that was your coworker these poems are about that friendship and the gap left behind.
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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A coworker who became a real friend often deserves more than a poem and you may end up speaking at the service yourself. If that’s you then our eulogy examples for a colleague will give you some ideas and there are separate eulogy examples for a boss if the person you lost was someone you reported to.
Famous Funeral Poems That Suit a Coworker
Some of the best loved funeral poems are still under copyright so I won’t reproduce them here but they’re easy to find and quite a few work well for a colleague. Look these up by name if you want something more widely recognized:
- “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep” by Mary Elizabeth Frye —comforting and without any family specific language which makes it a good choice for almost any service.
- “His Journey’s Just Begun” by Ellen Brenneman — a hopeful, uplifting piece about a life continuing on, often read for friends and colleagues.
- “She Is Gone” (also known as “He Is Gone”) by David Harkins — about choosing to smile because the person lived rather than crying because they’re gone.
- “Afterglow” by Helen Lowrie Marshall — short and about leaving behind happy memories. Reads well in a card or at a service.
If you’re not sure a poem is the right call our guide on what to say when someone dies covers other ways to mark the loss and you’ll find more verse in our sympathy poems and poems about grief.
How to Use a Poem for a Coworker
A poem for a colleague is usually used in one of three ways.
- Read at the service. If you’ve been asked to read on behalf of the team the longer pieces near the top of this page work best. Keep it to one poem, read it slowly and it’s fine to say a sentence first about who you’re representing.
- In a card from the team. Short is better here. Pick one of the brief verses, leave room for people to sign and include a line or two of your own with it. Our notes to coworkers can help with the wording.
- Sent to the family. If you’re reaching out directly a poem can feel like too much on its own. A short message works better, with the verse as the closing. There are templates in our condolence emails to coworkers if you’re emailing.
One extra thing: read it out loud before you commit to it. A poem that looks right on the page can be a problem to read and you’ll want to know that in advance rather than at the lectern.
Final Thoughts
Losing a coworker is a strange. You go back to the same desk nearby and carry on as if it’s all normal. A poem spent stop that feeling of loss but it can be a way to channel the feeling, whether you’re reading it aloud for the whole team or tucking it into a card.
