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On Death

Reading time: 40 seconds

Kahlil Gibran · 1923

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? Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

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

What Serany thinks about this poem

Uplifting Comforting A classic

Background

Gibran published The Prophet in 1923, and it has sold more copies than almost any book in English. This is the end of what his prophet says about dying.

Meaning

Dying is stepping out of your body the way you'd step into the wind. He says the things that look like endings are starts: reach the top of the mountain and you begin climbing, go into the earth and you begin dancing.

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.

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Barter

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Life has loveliness to sell, All beautiful and splendid things,

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A person who got a lot out of being alive: weather, music, food, their children's faces. Right where a family want the funeral to be about the living they did.

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Death, be not proud

John Donne · 1633

Death, be not proud, though some have callèd thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so:

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A believer, and a family who want something with some fight in it rather than a quiet goodbye. It suits a person who argued back all their life.

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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;

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Joy, Shipmate, Joy!

Walt Whitman · 1871

Joy, shipmate, Joy! (Pleas'd to my soul at death I cry,)

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Who's it for

A sailor, or anyone who was happiest setting off somewhere new. Right for a family who want something glad said out loud at the funeral.

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No coward soul is mine

Emily Brontë · 1850

No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere:

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Who's it for

A person whose faith was entirely their own and who had no time for churches. Right for someone nobody could frighten.

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Prospice

Robert Browning · 1864

Fear death?--to feel the fog in my throat, The mist in my face,

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Someone who fought their illness all the way and wanted to know exactly what was happening. Also right for a person going back to a husband or wife who died first.

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She Is Gone

David Harkins · 1981

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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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When I go from hence

Rabindranath Tagore · 1912

When I go from hence let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable. I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus that expands on the ocean of light, and thus am I blessed—let this be my parting word.

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Who's it for

Someone grateful and curious, who found something holy without needing a church for it. Right for a person who reckoned they had had the better of the bargain.

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

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Death Is Nothing At All

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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

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

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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

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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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Epitaph on an Infant

Samuel Taylor Coleridge · 1794

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

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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.

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Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun

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

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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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It is not growing like a tree

Ben Jonson · 1640

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

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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.

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Music, when soft voices die

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1824

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

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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.

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Remember

Christina Rossetti · 1862

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

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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.

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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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About this poem

When I go from hence

Rabindranath Tagore · 1912

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Who's it for

Someone grateful and curious, who found something holy without needing a church for it. Right for a person who reckoned they had had the better of the bargain.

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Read the poem

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A Psalm of Life

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1838

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

2 min

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.

UpliftingA classicPlain EnglishReligiousTraditional

Read the poem

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

Read the poem

Death Is Nothing At All

Henry Scott Holland · 1919

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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.

ComfortingGentlePlain EnglishA classicReligious

Read the poem

Death, be not proud

John Donne · 1633

Death, be not proud, though some have callèd thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so:

55 sec

Who's it for

A believer, and a family who want something with some fight in it rather than a quiet goodbye. It suits a person who argued back all their life.

A classicReligiousUpliftingStoicUnusual

Read the poem

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.

A classicComfortingOutdoorsyNon-religiousGentlePlain EnglishModern

About this poem

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

Read the poem

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.

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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.

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Funeral Blues

W. H. Auden · 1936

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

Who's it for

Someone who was everything to one person. It's for a mourner who doesn't want cheering up yet, and there's nothing better for a partner.

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Invictus

William Ernest Henley · 1888

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

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Who's it for

Someone who got dealt a hard hand and never let it decide who they were. The person others called stubborn and you would call brave.

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Little Boy Blue

Eugene Field · 1888

The little toy dog is covered with dust, But sturdy and staunch he stands;

1 min

Who's it for

A small child, and a family who need the loss said simply rather than explained away. It is right where the toys are still in the house.

GentleA classicFor a childGone too soonTear jerkerPlain English

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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

Requiem

Robert Louis Stevenson · 1887

Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie.

25 sec

Who's it for

Someone who travelled, or worked outdoors, or just loved a big view. Right for a person who was happy with the life they got.

OutdoorsyStoicA classicPlain EnglishNon-religious

Read the poem

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