Poems for funerals are one of those things that people have mixed feelings about. Some say it's taking the easy way out but others think it is more about being able to express yourself at a time when it's difficult to even think straight, let alone write about someone you love and care about who is no longer with you.

More and more we want to clebrate the life of the people we have lost rather than mourn their passing - but at the same time we need to express our grief and sense of loss. For me poetry is one of the ways that makes it easy to express both these emotions - I'm just not very good at writing it. As I get older I find myself needing to do this more and more as my friends move on. I get round it by borrowing other peoples words and using them either as they are or changing them just a bit so that they are more 'appropriate'. The hard part is finding the right poems or readings in the first place. Nobody ever seems to want to talk about what you do when someone dies, let alone help you by pointing you in the right direction. I found a wonderful book - Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

This book is full of poems and readings that you can use as they are or adjust them to suit your own needs. There is a huge variety from traditional scriptural excerpts through to what is, I suppose, the modern funeral classic - Stop All the Clocks, even help and guidance on writing your own pieces. I can't put into words how much help and comfort it was.

I've written up one of the poems that I found particularly helpful - I hope it speaks to you too.

Grieve for me, for I would grieve for you.

Then brush away the sorrow and the tears

Life is not over, but begins anew,

With courage you must greet the coming years.

To live forever in the past is wrong;

It can only cause you misery and pain.

Dwell not on memories overlong,

With others you must share and care again.

Reach out and comfort those who comfort you;

Recall the years, but only for a while.

Nurse not your loneliness; but live again.

Forget not. Remember with a smile.

Navaho Prayer