Funeral reading
On His Books
Hilaire Belloc
“On His Books” by Hilaire Belloc is a poem read at a funeral or memorial service. It takes about 10 seconds read aloud, usually by the officiant. It is in the public domain, so the full text is printed on this page and goes straight into a ceremony script.
The full text
When I am dead, I hope it may be said: "His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."
Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.
Where it comes from
The couplet is the first of the epigrams in Hilaire Belloc’s Sonnets and Verse, published by Duckworth in London in 1923. Belloc was a French-English writer of essays, history, satire and verse who sat in the British Parliament from 1906 to 1910.
What it says
When I am dead, the speaker says, I hope people will say that my sins were scarlet but my books were read. It is a pun on “red” and “read”, and a confession and a boast in the same breath: whatever else I got wrong, the work mattered to people. Read at a funeral, it says that a person was not a saint and did not pretend to be, and that what they made or shared will outlast them.
One pun, two lines, for someone who lived among books. A line to close on, not a piece to build a service around. Read at a funeral or memorial service. Themes: his sins were scarlet but his books were read · a two-line epigram · a writer, a teacher, a great reader · a pun · a closing line rather than a reading · very short.
Who it suits
A writer, journalist, teacher, librarian, bookseller or great reader, and anyone whose life was a little colorful. It suits a family who already joke about the person’s faults and want to say so with love. It is a poor fit for a very formal religious service, or anywhere “sins were scarlet” might be taken literally by people who knew of real wrongdoing.
Where it goes in the ceremony
A closing line, not a reading. Use it as the last sentence of a eulogy, or the officiant’s final words before the closing music. It takes about ten seconds.
Reading it aloud
The text on this page is 19 words. At a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, which is slower than conversation, that comes to about 10 seconds of reading.
- Introduce it in a phrase: Hilaire Belloc wrote this about himself.
- The pun is in the last word. Say “read” clearly and pause just after it.
- Read the first line as a wish and the second as a quote, with a small lift as you start “His sins were scarlet”.
- If the person wrote books, name one straight after it. That is the best follow-up line you will find.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “On His Books” take to read aloud?
“On His Books” takes about 10 seconds read aloud at a ceremony pace, which is slower than conversation — roughly 130 words a minute. That is the figure the run-sheet uses when it works out the timing for the whole service.
Who usually reads “On His Books”?
Usually the officiant rather than a guest reader. “On His Books” runs about 10 seconds, which sits inside the part of the service the officiant is already leading, and keeping it there means it is carried by the person who has rehearsed it.
Can “On His Books” be printed in a ceremony script?
Yes. It is in the public domain, so the full text is on this page and can be printed in a script or an order of service.
Where this text was checked
Checked word for word against a full-text edition that is itself the authority — a Project Gutenberg or Wikisource transcription, a publisher’s own edition, or the issuing body’s page.
Checked
A reading is two minutes of the hour.
The rest is the welcome, the life, the remembrances, the committal — and knowing what comes next. Answer some questions about them and get the whole service, written out, with this reading in its place.
Other readings that suit the same service
- The Body of B. Franklin, Printer — his own mock epitaph30 secondsA printer’s mock epitaph in the same spirit
- My Own Epitaph10 secondsAnother two-line joke to close on
- No Man Is an Island (Meditation XVII)40 secondsA more serious reading for someone a community read and knew
- Requiem30 secondsRobert Louis Stevenson
- Remember55 secondsChristina Rossetti
- Crossing the Bar55 secondsAlfred, Lord Tennyson