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Mother o' Mine

Reading time: 40 seconds

Rudyard Kipling · 1891

Mother o' Mine

Rudyard Kipling · 1891

If I were hanged on the highest hill, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! I know whose love would follow me still, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! If I were drowned in the deepest sea, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! I know whose tears would come down to me, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine! If I were damned of body and soul, I know whose prayers would make me whole, Mother o’ mine, O mother o’ mine!

Public domain in the UK and the US · serany.app

What Serany thinks about this poem

For a mother Comforting Traditional

Background

Kipling put it at the front of his first novel in 1891 as the dedication, and never gave it a title. The name everybody uses comes from the line it keeps repeating.

Meaning

However far he fell, his mother's love would still reach him. Hanged, drowned, damned: the answer each time is that she would still be there.

Who's it for

A mother whose love never had any conditions on it. The kind that would have followed her children anywhere, and they always knew it.

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A Psalm of Life

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1838

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream!

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Who's it for

Someone who never sat still and left things behind them: a business, a trade, a houseful of people they taught. Right for a life spent being useful.

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Because I could not stop for Death

Emily Dickinson · 1890

Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me;

50 sec

Who's it for

Someone unhurried, who took things as they came and was never frightened of what was ahead.

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Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1889

Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me!

45 sec

Who's it for

Someone who had a long life and was ready. Especially right for anyone who went to sea, or just loved being near it.

ReligiousTraditionalA classicComfortingGentleOutdoorsyA long lifePeace at last

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Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun

William Shakespeare · 1623

Fear no more the heat o' the sun, Nor the furious winter's rages:

50 sec

Who's it for

A person who worked hard all their life and had had enough by the end. It also fits someone who never cared much who was important and who wasn't.

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For the Fallen

Laurence Binyon · 1914

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

15 sec

Who's it for

Anyone who served, and especially someone who died young in uniform. Right for a family who want the words everybody in the room will already know.

For a veteranTraditionalA classicGone too soonPlain English

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If—

Rudyard Kipling · 1910

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

2 min

Who's it for

Someone who got on with things, kept their temper, and didn’t make a fuss when life went against them. The sort of person other people steadied themselves against.

StoicA classicTraditionalFor a fatherNot about death

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Rock Me to Sleep

Elizabeth Akers Allen · 1859

Backward, turn backward, O Time in your flight, Make me a child again just for tonight;

3 min

Who's it for

A mother whose children still feel like children when they think of her. Someone whose particular comfort nobody else was ever able to copy.

For a motherTear jerkerTraditionalA classic

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The Soldier

Rupert Brooke · 1915

If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field

55 sec

Who's it for

Someone who served, and especially anyone who died far from home. Right for a family who want something formal and proud.

For a veteranTraditionalA classicGone too soon

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The Village Blacksmith

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1840

Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands;

2 min

Who's it for

A working man who provided, turned up, and never made anything of it. Someone whose children still remember the sound of him getting on with the day.

For a fatherA classicTraditionalStoic

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Remember

Christina Rossetti · 1862

Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land;

50 sec

Who's it for

A long marriage, or a parent you were really close to. It's the person who died giving everyone permission to be happy again.

GentleComfortingA classicTear jerkerFor a partnerFor a motherFor a father

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Rock Me to Sleep

Elizabeth Akers Allen · 1859

Backward, turn backward, O Time in your flight, Make me a child again just for tonight;

3 min

Who's it for

A mother whose children still feel like children when they think of her. Someone whose particular comfort nobody else was ever able to copy.

For a motherTear jerkerTraditionalA classic

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She Is Gone

David Harkins · 1981

Not shown here, because the poem is still in copyright.

Who's it for

A mother or a grandmother, and a family trying to turn back towards living. Right for someone who'd have wanted everyone to get on with it.

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Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1889

Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me!

45 sec

Who's it for

Someone who had a long life and was ready. Especially right for anyone who went to sea, or just loved being near it.

ReligiousTraditionalA classicComfortingGentleOutdoorsyA long lifePeace at last

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Death Is Nothing At All

Henry Scott Holland · 1919

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.

2 min

Who's it for

Almost any funeral, and it is the reading most families have already heard. Right for someone whose house was full of easy talk and jokes.

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Death stands above me

Walter Savage Landor · 1853

Death stands above me, whispering low I know not what into my ear:

15 sec

Who's it for

A family who do not believe in anything particular and would rather not pretend they do. Right for someone who was not afraid at the end.

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Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

Mary Elizabeth Frye · 1932

Not shown here, because the poem is still in copyright.

Who's it for

Almost anyone, honestly. It's best of all for someone who was always outside: out walking, in the garden, never in the house.

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About this poem

Epitaph on an Infant

Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1794

Ere Sin could blight or Sorrow fade, Death came with friendly care;

10 sec

Who's it for

A baby, or a child who died very small. It is right where a family believe their child is somewhere safe and being looked after now.

For a babyFor a childGone too soonReligiousComfortingGentlePlain English

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Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun

William Shakespeare · 1623

Fear no more the heat o' the sun, Nor the furious winter's rages:

50 sec

Who's it for

A person who worked hard all their life and had had enough by the end. It also fits someone who never cared much who was important and who wasn't.

A classicTraditionalComfortingPeace at lastStoicA long lifeAfter dementia

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Hope is the thing with feathers

Emily Dickinson · 1891

Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul,

30 sec

Who's it for

Someone who stayed hopeful without ever making a show of it, and kept other people going by it.

ComfortingUpliftingNot about deathA classic

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It is not growing like a tree

Ben Jonson · 1640

It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be;

35 sec

Who's it for

Anyone who died young, and a family who need to hear that a short life was still a whole one. Right for a person who packed a lot in.

Gone too soonUpliftingComfortingUnusual

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Music, when soft voices die

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1824

Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory;

20 sec

Who's it for

A musician or a singer, and anyone whose house was always full of music. It also fits a husband or wife, because what it says is that their love outlasts them.

For a musicianFor a partnerGentleTear jerkerNon-religiousComforting

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On Death

Kahlil Gibran · 1923

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

40 sec

Who's it for

A family who want hope without a particular religion behind it. Right for someone curious about everything, who wasn't frightened of what came next.

UpliftingComfortingA classic

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Remember

Christina Rossetti · 1862

Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land;

50 sec

Who's it for

A long marriage, or a parent you were really close to. It's the person who died giving everyone permission to be happy again.

GentleComfortingA classicTear jerkerFor a partnerFor a motherFor a father

Read the poem

She Is Gone

David Harkins · 1981

Not shown here, because the poem is still in copyright.

Who's it for

A mother or a grandmother, and a family trying to turn back towards living. Right for someone who'd have wanted everyone to get on with it.

UpliftingComfortingPlain EnglishA classicFor a motherFor a grandmotherFor a fatherFor a grandfatherModern

About this poem

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