Losing a brother takes away someone who has known you almost your whole life. He was there for the childhood you shared and siblings often have a unique bond that only they can understand. Saying goodbye to him is one of the hardest things you will ever do.
A funeral poem can help when your own words don’t feel enough. The right verse will give everyone gathered a moment to remember the man he was.
So we have this collection of funeral poems written especially for a brother, from a big brother who went first to a little brother gone far too soon.
Some of these have been written by us so they would say something a little different from the poems you’ll find everywhere else. Others are well loved and known classics that suit a brother. Whichever you choose we hope one of them speaks for you when you stand up to read.
If you’re also working on what to say out loud our eulogy examples for a brother may help too.
Funeral Poems for a Brother
These work for a brother of any age. They reflect on the bond and the fact that’s its the one thing death can’t undo.
A Brother Like You
There’s a bond between brothers
that nothing can break,
built from the games that we played
and the messes we’d make.
You were there at the start,
you were there all along,
the steady, the familiar,
my unshakable song.
I will carry you with me
in all that I do,
for the world is still better
for a brother like you.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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The Brother I Knew
I knew you before the world did,
before the man you’d become,
when you were just my brother
and I was the younger one.
I knew your laugh in a crowded room,
I knew your steady hand,
I knew the things you never said
but I could understand.
And though the world has lost a good man,
the loss that breaks my heart
is simply that the brother I knew
and I have had to part.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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Funeral Poems for an Older Brother
My Big Brother
You went first into everything,
you cleared the path for me,
you showed me how to be brave
and the man I could be.
I looked up to you always,
though I rarely let it show,
and now that you have gone ahead,
it’s the hardest road I know.
But I’ll walk it like you taught me,
with my head held up high,
and I will meet you at the end of it,
my big brother, goodbye.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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You Always Led the Way
You were the one who held my hand
when I was small and scared,
the one who fought my battles
and always, always cared.
You led and I just followed,
the way that I still do,
and even now, my brother,
I am walking after you.
So go ahead and lead me on
to wherever you have gone,
I’ll find you there one day, big brother,
and again I’ll follow on.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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Funeral Poems for a Younger Brother
Too Soon, Little Brother
You were the baby of us,
the one we all adored,
the loud one at the table,
the one we could not ignore.
We were meant to grow old together,
to watch our children play,
and it breaks something inside me
that you had to leave this way.
So rest now, little brother,
let your weary heart be still,
we’ll hold your place among us,
and we always will.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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I Was Supposed to Go First
In the order of things
I was meant to lead,
to walk on ahead
and to plant the first seed.
You weren’t supposed to leave
before me, little one,
the big brother’s left standing
when the younger is gone.
But love doesn’t follow
the order we’d choose,
so I’ll carry you with me
in everything I do.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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Short Funeral Poems for a Brother
When you want something simple for a card, a headstone, a quiet moment in the service or something else that only needs a few lines.
Never Far Apart
No longer by my side,
but never far apart,
my brother and my friend,
forever in my heart.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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Gone Ahead
He is not lost, just gone ahead,
to a place of no more pain,
and when our own long road is done,
we’ll be brothers once again.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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My Brother
Brother by blood,
friend by choice,
gone from my sight
but never my voice.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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Funeral Poems About Brothers and Memories
For when you want the poem to be about the years you shared and not just the goodbye.
Brothers Always
Remember the bikes and the scraped-up knees,
the dares and the den up in the trees?
Remember the secrets we swore we’d keep,
the late-night talks when we should have been asleep?
I’ll keep every one of those days with me,
exactly the way that they used to be.
For death can take a brother away,
but it cannot take the boys we were that day.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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The Things We Did
It’s the small things I’ll miss,
not the big and the grand,
the in-jokes only we knew,
the half-spoken plans.
The way you’d just call
for no reason at all,
the way you’d be there
whenever I’d fall.
A brother is built
out of all of these years,
and that’s why this loss
brings so many tears.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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Comforting Funeral Poems for a Brother
I Haven’t Gone Far
Don’t think of me as gone, dear ones,
I’ve only stepped from view,
I’m waiting in a brighter place
that one day waits for you.
So dry your eyes and lift your hearts,
and let your grieving cease,
for I have laid my burdens down
and entered into peace.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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Until We Meet Again
Weep not too long for me,
my brother and my friend,
this parting on the earth
is not the final end.
I’ve gone to a place
where there’s no more pain,
and one fine day
we’ll be brothers again.
So live your life fully,
laugh loud and laugh long,
and carry me with you
in your favorite song.
By Sympathy Message Ideas
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Well Known Poems for a Brother’s Funeral
Alongside our own verses there are a few timeless poems that work very well for a brother. The two below are old enough to be in the public domain so you’re free to print and read them.
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 round 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
This one suits a brother especially well because of how casual and familiar it is. It sounds the way you’d actually talk to him.
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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
A short, gentle sonnet that gives a grieving family permission to smile again. The line about choosing to forget and smile rather than remember and be sad can be a real comfort.
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There are a few other much loved poems that families often choose for a brother but that are still under copyright. We can point you to them by name rather than print them here.
Look up “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep,” “He Is Gone” by David Harkins and “Miss Me But Let Me Go.” Each one carries the same message of love outlasting loss.
How to Choose the Right Poem for Your Brother
You can’t really make a wrong choice but there are a few things that help you to decide. Read each poem out loud before you choose. A verse can look right on the page and then be a struggle to get out, so test it first and pick something you can get through.
Think about who he was, not just that he’s gone. If your brother was the joker of the family then a poem that gives everyone permission to laugh will feel more like him than something thats more solemn. If he was the quiet one then a simple short verse may say more than a long one.
You don’t have to read it yourself either. If you’re not sure you can manage it on the day just ask someone else to read on your behalf, or print the poem in the funeral program so everyone can keep it.
And feel free to change a word here and there. Swap “brother” for his name or adjust a line so it fits in with your family. These poems are yours to make personal.
When you’ve found the one you might want to use few words of your own to go with it. Our sympathy messages for the loss of a brother and loss of brother quotes are good places to find them.
If you’d like to keep looking for more options then our funeral poems for a sister and wider collection of poems about grief may bring you some comfort too.
