Jacqui Byrne

Reading Poems or Verse At Funerals



Posted: Saturday, May 17, 2008

by Jacqui Byrne
Peter J Jackson

Poems or verse at a funeral can be a great comfort if chosen wisely. When someone reads a suitable verse befitting the person's life it makes the service very personal and is a comfort for the family. It doesn't have to be a sad poem, remember you are reflecting the persons life, not death. If the person who died had a great sense of humour then it stands to reason to choose a poem that identifies with that humour.

His or her occupation can be taken into account as well, if he was a shearer then a poem about that work would be very appropriate especially if it has a touch of humour and describes the way shearers work and live. A funeral service provided for a shearer had a poem that people smile and later say how it personalised his funeral.

"Lonesome and hot covered with dust the Hilton its not and the work is a must. The shearer bends down in the heat of the day and he earns the sweet crown of the Alice okay. When the shearing is done they sit down on the porch just to have some good fun in the light of the torch.

Where the VB is flowing from big can after can til the rooster is crowing, it's the night of The Man. He has done his day's work with a hundred and ten and thus beaten the jerk by the name of Fat Ben. As the years pass by like Mozzies, those who love it out here are the fair dinkum Aussies who at night drink their Beer."

Another verse that is popular in the country areas of Australia is Palsm 23, the Aussie Version by Kel Richards from the Aussie Bible.

Writing a personalised poem yourself is always a wonderful way to tell the story of a persons life describing how loving they were, how family orintated or how much they loved kids or their work, anything that brings out the personality of his or her life. No one expects it to be written like Keats or Lord Byron, just something that comes from the heart.

Jacqui Byrne has been in the Funeral Industry for 22 years and is  the Administrator and webmistress for Peter J Jackson, Funeral Directors, Western Australia where she tries to provide many helpful resources for the Bereaved. Website http://www.peterjjackson.com

This Article has been viewed 246 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.