funeral poem help

Hi Honey ~

I am so sorry for your (and your family's) loss.
I don't know the poem of which you speak ~
but I am including my favorite poem regarding the death of a loved one.

Immortality

"Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there. I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight and ripened grain.
I am the gentle Autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circling flight ~
I am the soft star shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there ~ I did not die."

Mary E. Frye

Hope it helps.
Again: I am sorry for your loss.
*Hugs*
Cari

Doing an Internet search ~ I found this one.
I hope it is the rememberance you are seeking.

"I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says "There, she is gone."
"Gone where?"
"Gone from my sight. That is all."
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at that moment when someone says "There, she is gone" there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout - "Here she comes!"

by Henry Van Dyke

sorry to hear of your loss Honey

at my DHs' grandmothers funeral his cousin stood up and told of her remembrance of her GGMA. We were all comforted by the memories of happy days and that she had a great life,,,we even got a chuckle about her always bringing the little rolls at get togethers

remember the good days

Thanks Cari, that's exactly it! Thanks so much. When I came across it years ago I thought of my Auntie even then, as she has several people 'waiting for her', in particular her mother who died 35 years ago and to whom she was extremely close. I also really like the other one you quoted, which I have here in one of my books of poetry. Another that I like is

DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL (Henry Scott Holland 1847 -1918)

Death is nothing at all,

I have only slipped away into the next room,

I am I and you are you;

Whatever we were to each other, That we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name,

Speak to me in the easy way which you always used,

Put no difference in your tone,

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we shared together.

Let my name ever be the household word that it always was.

Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant,

It is the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.

All is well.

I am hoping at least one of them can be included in the service, though of course it is up to my Uncle. He and my Mum are meeting with the minister at some point to discuss the service.

Thanks for your help, Cari

Honey

We were posting at the same time Kitty, so I missed your post.

Yes, remembering the good times helps. Much reminiscing has gone on at my auntie's bedside over the past two weeks. She is a part of almost every good memory that I have! We are a very close family and my auntie has been involved in everything I have done, my whole life.

I know this isn't the one you're looking for, but Emily Dickenson did a great poem about dying and death. It goes:

When tolling bells
I ask the cause
A sould has gone to God
I'm answered in a lonesome tone
Is heaven then so bad?

The bells should joyful
Ring to tell
A soul has gone to heaven
Would seem to me the proper way
A good news should be given.

I always really liked the way she looks at death. I'm really sorry about your loss.

I have been looking for the "ship" poem ever since I read it at a bread and breakfast years ago. Thank you!

This is the poem you were looking for I belive.

The Ship
I am standing on the shore as a great ship gently glides
from the harbor and sails toward the horizon.
She is beautiful. Sails billowing; and shining bright as sunlight sparkling on distant waters. She grows smaller and smaller until at last, her white sails shine as ribbons out where the sky and water mingle as one.
And as I watch, a voice behind me says,
"Well, she's gone." She's gone. Gone? "No," I tell myself. No, she is not really gone. Not really. She is gone only in the sense that I can no longer see her. In reality, she is the same as ever; just as beautiful; just as shining. And deep in my heart I know, that on another shore someone is crying out,
"Look! Look everyone! Here she comes!" ~Author Unknown

I love that poem as well...the author is Henry Van Dyke.

Peace