Editorial policy

People arrive at this site in one of the hardest weeks of their lives, often with a service days away. That shapes every editorial decision we make.

Our standards

• Poem provenance is checked. Before a poem appears here, we verify its author, date, and copyright status. Poems reproduced in full are public domain or traditional works. Where attribution is genuinely disputed — as with Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep — we explain the dispute rather than picking a side silently.
• Copyright is respected, even when inconvenient. Some of the most-searched funeral poems are still under copyright. We describe them, explain how to use them properly, and link to official sources rather than reprinting them.
• Eulogy examples are illustrative. The people in our example eulogies are composites, not real individuals. They are written to be realistic enough to adapt — names, details, and stories are yours to replace.
• Scripture is quoted from public-domain translations (KJV and WEB), clearly labelled. For Catholic funeral Masses, the parish’s approved Lectionary translation always takes precedence on the day.
• Nothing is paywalled and nothing requires sign-up.

Corrections

If we got something wrong — a line of verse, an attribution, a piece of guidance — please tell us. Corrections are made promptly and pages show their last-reviewed date where relevant.

Who writes this site

FuneralVerses is edited by Taro Schenker and published by Known By One, LLC — more on our about page.