A celebration of life is a different kind of way to say of goodbye. You still feel the pain, and you’re very much hurting, but the whole point is to lift your head a little and remember the good.
You look back on all the laughter you had. The stories you’ll be telling for years.
And that’s exactly why poems work so well at these gatherings. A poem can talk about sadness and the joy at the same time, which is more or less the whole job of a celebration of life. The right few lines can say what you’ve been struggling to put into words.
So I’ve brought together these poems that fit a more hopeful tone for a life celebration. Some are uplifting, some short and easy to read aloud, a couple are even a little playful because lots of people would want it that way.
There are original poems here you won’t find anywhere else as well as some classics.
Uplifting Poems for a Celebration of Life
These are the ones for when you want the room to leave smiling alongside their tears. They focus on gratitude and the good that’s been left behind.
We Are Here to Celebrate
We are not here to mourn a life,
We’re here to hold it high.
To say the name out loud again
And not to wonder why.
We’re here to tell the silly tales,
The ones they loved to share,
To fill this room with all the love
That proves they’re still right here.
So raise a glass and raise a smile,
Let laughter lead the way.
For this is how they’d want it done,
A bright and shining day.
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What They Left Behind
They didn’t leave us empty,
They left us rather full,
Of memories and little jokes
And lessons we can pull.
A way of making coffee.
A song they’d always hum.
A kindness in the smallest things
That showed us where they’re from.
And so we don’t say goodbye today,
Not really, not for good.
We carry them in how we love,
The way they always would.
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A Life, Well Lived
Don’t count the years that they were here,
Count all the ways they grew,
The hands they held, the hearts they warmed,
The good that they would do.
A life is not the length of it,
It’s measured by the light,
And theirs, my goodness, theirs was bright,
It shone the whole way through.
So let us not be sorrowful
That such a life is done.
Let’s be the proudest people here
That we’re the ones it touched.
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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?
By Henry Scott Holland
Short Poems for a Celebration of Life
If you’re reading aloud and worried about nerves or making a mistake then a shorter poem might be better. These are quick to deliver and should be easier for your voice if you think it’s going to wobble.
You’ll find more brief options over in our celebration of life quotes too.
Still Here
Look for me in sunlit rooms,
In songs you used to know,
In every kindness passed along,
That’s where I’ll always go.
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A Toast
Not goodbye, but thank you,
For the laughter and the years.
We’ll meet you in the memories,
And smile away the tears.
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The Best of Them
Take the best of who they were
And keep it as your own.
That’s how the truly loved ones live
Long after they’ve gone home.
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Carry On
So carry on the way they would,
With courage and with cheer.
And when you laugh the way they laughed,
You’ll know they’re standing near.
Poems About a Life Well Lived
A celebration of life is, at its heart, a thank you for a job well done. These poems honor the everyday goodness, the steady love, the legacy that doesn’t shout but lasts. They pair nicely with a eulogy if you’re speaking too.
The Things That Last
It wasn’t in the big grand things
That all their goodness lay,
It was the cup of tea brought up,
The “drive home safe today.”
It was the way they’d always ask
And always really hear.
The kind of love you only miss
The moment it’s not near.
And that is what we keep of them,
Not monuments or stone,
But all the small and tender ways
They made us feel at home.
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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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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 though 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
Light Hearted Poems for a Celebration of Life
If whoevers like it is your celebrating was more light hearted and would have wanted laughter rather than sadness then these warmer poems give everyone permission to smile. A bit of lightness at a celebration of life is not disrespectful, it’s often just right.
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
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Don’t Be Too Sad
Now don’t go getting weepy,
I really can’t abide it.
I lived a good and happy life
And rather quite enjoyed it.
So eat the cake, tell the jokes,
Put the kettle on and stay.
And if you must shed a tear or two,
Then laugh them both away.
I’ll be the warmth in your morning sun,
The chuckle you can’t place.
So lift your chin and live it up,
And keep a smiling face.
Well Known Poems You Might Recognize
If none of the above feels quite right there are a few much loved poems that get read at celebrations of life again and again. I can’t reproduce these in full here because they’re still under copyright but you’ll find them easily online or in most poetry anthologies and any of them would suit the occasion beautifully:
- “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep” by Mary Elizabeth Frye, the one about the wind, the snow and the birds in flight
- “The Dash” by Linda Ellis, all about the little line between the two dates and how you spend it
- “She Is Gone (Remember Me)” by David Harkins, the famous one that asks you to smile because they lived rather than cry because they’re gone
- “Afterglow” by Helen Lowrie Marshall, a warm one about leaving behind an afterglow of smiling
- “Feel No Guilt in Laughter” often read at celebrations of life for the way it gives mourners permission to be happy again
For more options our big collection of funeral poems has many more and if it’s the grief itself you’re trying to put into words our poems about grief may help.
How to Choose and Read a Poem at a Celebration of Life
Picking the poem is half the battle. This is what works when you get up to read it.
- Match the poem to the person, not the occasion. If they were a joker then a light hearted poem will work much better than a solemn one. The best reading sounds like them.
- Read it out loud first, at home. Some poems look lovely on paper but are difficult to read when you come to deliver them. You want one that flows.
- Print it big. Large font and double spaced on a piece of paper you can hold. Phones run out of battery and shaky hands lose their place on a small screen.
- Pause where you need to. Nobody minds if you stop for a breath. Take a sip of water, look up if you need to and then carry on. Everyone is going to be rooting for you.
- Say a line about why you chose it. A quick “Mum loved this one” before you start gives the poem context and settles your nerves at the same time.
Final Thoughts
Standing up and reading a few lines about someone you loved is one of the kindest things you can do at a celebration of life. So choose a poem that sounds like them, don’t be too worried about how it’ll sound or your delivery, and remember the life that was well lived of your loved one.
If you’re putting the whole day together you might also find our celebration of life quotes and a life well lived quotes useful for the program, the slideshow or to go on the invitation.
