Funeral poems for grandma

A grandmother’s funeral calls for gentleness. The right poem for her is rarely the grandest one — it’s the one that sounds like her kitchen, her chair, her way of making everyone feel like the favourite. The verses below lean quiet and warm, and most are short enough for a grandchild to read without struggle. Every poem here is public domain, so you can print any of them in the order of service freely.

Gentle classics for a grandmother’s service

Eliza Cook wrote this in 1838 about the chair her mother — a grandmother to her children — always sat in. If your family keeps glancing at an empty seat, this is the poem.

Henry Scott Holland’s famous reflection works beautifully for a grandmother because of one line in particular — the instruction to keep using “the old familiar name.” Nan, Gran, Nonna, Grandma: whatever yours was, the poem tells you to keep saying it.

Christina Rossetti’s sonnet is for the family that doesn’t want the day to be only about loss — it asks, in the kindest way, to be remembered without guilt.

For a grandmother of strong faith, Rossetti’s “Up-Hill” reads like a conversation she might have had herself — every anxious question answered with calm certainty that there are “beds for all who come.”

And if she loved the sea, a garden, or simply the quiet of an early morning, this traditional Gaelic blessing is one of the loveliest things a grandchild can read aloud — four lines, impossible to stumble over, and deeply calming for a room full of grief.

Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar” suits a grandmother who met old age without fear. Its image of slipping quietly out to sea — “And may there be no moaning of the bar, / When I put out to sea” — is dignified rather than sad, which is why generations of families have chosen it. The full text is in our main collection.

Short verses for the order of service

If you’re printing a small remembrance card or a single page, four lines are often enough. These traditional verses fit beside a photograph and a pair of dates.

You may also see modern favourites suggested for grandmothers — Linda Ellis’s The Dash is the best known. It’s still under copyright, so we explain what it says and how to use it properly rather than reprinting it; the public-domain Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep carries a very similar comfort and can be printed freely.

If you’re also speaking at the service, our eulogy examples for a grandmother pair naturally with any of these poems — a short verse to open, your own words to follow.