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Trees

Reading time: 35 seconds

Not about deathOutdoorsy Religious Plain English Gentle A classic

Joyce Kilmer · 1913

Trees

Joyce Kilmer · 1913

I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in Summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.

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

What Serany thinks about this poem

Not about deathOutdoorsy Religious Plain English Gentle A classic

Background

Kilmer wrote it in 1913 at his house in New Jersey, looking out of a window. He was killed by a sniper in France five years later, at thirty-one.

Meaning

He says a tree beats anything he could write. It drinks from the ground, holds birds and snow, and spends all day looking at God.

Who's it for

A gardener, a farmer, or anyone who planted things that are still growing. It also fits a believer who found God outdoors rather than indoors.

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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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Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1889

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

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.

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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.

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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:

1 min

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,

2 min

Who's it for

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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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.

45 sec

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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Afterwards

Thomas Hardy · 1917

When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay, And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,

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Who's it for

Someone who noticed things other people walked straight past. Right for a gardener, a birdwatcher, or anyone who was kind to animals.

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Barter

Sara Teasdale · 1917

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

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Who's it for

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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Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1889

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

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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.

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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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I strove with none

Walter Savage Landor · 1849

I strove with none, for none was worth my strife. Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art;

15 sec

Who's it for

Someone who reached a good age and stayed out of other people's arguments. Right for a person who loved being outdoors or worked with their hands, and was content by the end.

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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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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.

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Warm Summer Sun

Robert Richardson · 1893

Warm summer sun, shine friendly here; Warm western wind, blow kindly here;

10 sec

Who's it for

Someone who died young, and a family who want something very short and very tender. Right where a longer reading would be more than anyone could manage.

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With rue my heart is laden

A. E. Housman · 1896

With rue my heart is laden For golden friends I had,

20 sec

Who's it for

A friend, which is the one it is really for, and anyone who died young. Right for someone who was good company and quick on their feet.

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Afterwards

Thomas Hardy · 1917

When the Present has latched its postern behind my tremulous stay, And the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,

2 min

Who's it for

Someone who noticed things other people walked straight past. Right for a gardener, a birdwatcher, or anyone who was kind to animals.

OutdoorsyGentleTear jerkerNon-religious

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

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.

ComfortingGentlePlain EnglishA classicReligious

Read the poem

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.

StoicNon-religiousComfortingGentlePlain EnglishPeace at last

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

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.

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Little Boy Blue

Eugene Field · 1888

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Song

Christina Rossetti · 1862

When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me;

40 sec

Who's it for

Someone who hated fuss and wouldn't have wanted a big do. Right where the family want something plain and completely unsentimental.

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The Life That I Have

Leo Marks · 1943

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

Who's it for

A widow or widower, and anyone who served. Right for a love that was certain, and someone who never went in for big words.

StoicPlain EnglishGentleNon-religiousFor a partnerFor a veteranModern

About this poem

Warm Summer Sun

Robert Richardson · 1893

Warm summer sun, shine friendly here; Warm western wind, blow kindly here;

10 sec

Who's it for

Someone who died young, and a family who want something very short and very tender. Right where a longer reading would be more than anyone could manage.

GentlePlain EnglishOutdoorsyNon-religiousGone too soonTear jerker

Read the poem

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