Funeral Program Poems and Verses: 16 You May Print Freely

Templates with a verse or poem set inside

Bible verses for a funeral program (King James Version)

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Psalm 23:4

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

John 14:1–2

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Revelation 21:4

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

2 Timothy 4:7

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Matthew 5:4

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Psalm 34:18

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee.

Isaiah 41:10

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

John 11:25

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1–2

Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

Proverbs 31:28 — often chosen for a mother

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 19:14 — for a child

Public-domain poems for a funeral program

Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Crossing the Bar” (1889)

Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; … Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.

Christina Rossetti, “Remember” (1862)

Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will.

Robert Louis Stevenson, “Requiem” (1887) — often chosen for a father

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 are still.

Henry Scott Holland, from a sermon of 1910

Poems and hymns that need permission

Many of the poems most often read at funerals were written in the twentieth century and are still under copyright, as are modern Bible translations and most contemporary hymns and songs. Reading them aloud at a service is one thing; printing them in a program is reproduction, and strictly needs the rights holder’s permission.

In practice the simple course is to print the title and author, or the hymn number, and let the words be spoken or sung. For Bible text, the King James Version is free to print anywhere, and most modern translations allow short quotations if you credit them as their copyright page asks.

This is general information, not legal advice. If a particular poem matters to the family, the publisher or the poet’s estate can tell you what they allow.