Best Family Funeral Poems

Written by Gail DeBole
In memory of my grandfather

Nice Day For a Funeral

I
(You were always old.  I can't remember a
time when you were not.)

Cried
(And you had no past before the first time I
became aware of your presence.)

When
(The weather huddled the mourners together.
It was a cold...

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The 18th of December was her last day;
she neither knew the date nor cared to.
Gathered at the hospital, keeping vigil,
we never overcame her fright, or ours.
The pain, too great to be driven away,
was only managed with IV drips,
needles stuck in bruised appendages --
bony things, arms...

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A cousin called the other day saying "Another cousin has passed away".

Well my husband said "How old was she.""

"Ninety-eight".

A stalwart woman who had served family and community well. Producing one child that 
became a missionary serving in a foreign land..

While talking the cousin asked "Did...

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When time moves on 
And we have to stop to say goodbye
My how it reminds us how time flies by
Oh why must we say goodbye 
When that just makes us want to cry 
As I sigh and ask God why 
I try to remember its...

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All were gone in the gust of wind.
Not yet fully grown up into a woman
She was to leave home for a man.
What type of rules are they that bind?
Young girls to quit family for another
And before time, be already a mother.
None ever bothered to know...

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He once was among us
as loving as could be
always helpful to others
Never letting us see
See the pain behind the smile
of a once handsome man
A great father to his kids
always taking a stand
A hero he was
to me in that house
Always making me laugh
piggy back rides a...

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They hate his drinking -
       But they put his ashes in …
A wine bottle urn.


7/21/14...

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When I think of my dear Aunt Sheila
A great big smile comes across my face
You see, no matter what the circumstances in life
Her will would never break
Compassionate love she gave to all
Evident in all of her blissful ways
Family was first, this I know for sure
In...

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In late Spring when heros scream

A source of sophistication from faint misery
Inside the thwart hidden silence of the pivotal solace of my mind
With mind blowing excursion toward the legally blind inside
Woods in growing habitation & silence

Woods in distant pathways derived from a slight bite in...

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In the summer of 2007, God received an angel.
The Angels name was Katie. 
Katie was sweet & Katie was good
But I guess God wanted sweet old Katie
Out of the hood.
She did all she could, she gave all she had
But never in her life treated anyone...

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Cigarettes are gross.
They can really kill you too
Dead. Gone. Forever...

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Today....... we have to say goodbye one last time to you,
For us, your children, it has to be the hardest thing we've had to do!
I know you have left this body before us and yet it seems oh too real,
So many people who loved you,"praying...

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The highway bridges
Remnants of conversation 
Clothed in ethereal blue.
Variform clouds
Stark white or gray
Bandage my heart.

Brother’s litany
Of thanksgiving
Floats above my head.
Mom and dad were
Good parents.
They worked hard.
Cemetery gates swallow us
Sleek and black
Like a raven
Plucking its prey.
Attendees’ musings are
Wetness on the
Road’s cheeks
Tactile as a 
Cat’s tongue
Freshening the...

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There's not much to say.
I knew her, know some things,
but certainly not all.

I know how little she put up with fools,
how her cooking surpassed so many others',
how simultaneously sweet and hard she could be.
I know about her smoking,
about her jewelry, her faith,
all these I'll hold...

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The Northern wind to South did blow
and left a kiss upon my brow,
I least care for the other ones,
From where to where the Western runs.
 
Within the sailcloth’s native flight
down all the oceans could I write,
but good from it can’t come to me
as wonder I...

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