Funeral reading
On Death, from The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran
“On Death, from The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran is a prose reading read at a funeral or memorial service. It takes about 55 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
You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life? For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond; And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring. Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.
Where it comes from
The passage is from The Prophet, a book of twenty-six prose poems by the Lebanese-American writer Kahlil Gibran, first published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1923. In the book, the seeress Almitra asks the departing prophet Almustafa about death, and these lines open his answer.
What it says
If you want to know the secret of death, look for it in the heart of life, because the two are one, the way a river and the sea are one. Deep in your hopes you already know something about what lies beyond, like seeds dreaming of spring under the snow; trust those dreams. The passage ends in paradox: only when you drink from the river of silence will you really sing; only at the mountain top do you begin to climb; only when the earth claims your body will you truly dance.
Claims no particular afterlife, which is why it works for a mixed-faith room. Read at a funeral or memorial service. Themes: the river and the sea · interfaith · no specific afterlife claimed · a mixed-faith family · a spiritual but not religious family.
Who it suits
Mixed-faith families, spiritual-but-not-religious families, and services with people from several traditions in the room, since it points toward something beyond without naming any heaven. It suits someone who loved music, dance or the mountains, and a person who read widely. Gibran’s chapter on marriage is common at weddings, so some guests will recognize the voice.
Where it goes in the ceremony
In the middle of the service, or just before a time of reflection or silence. The officiant often reads it; a reflective friend or family member can too.
Reading it aloud
The text on this page is 116 words. At a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, which is slower than conversation, that comes to about 55 seconds of reading.
- It is written as an answer to a question. Read “You would know the secret of death” as gently as if replying to someone in the front row.
- The river and sea line is the center. Give it room on either side.
- The last three lines are paradoxes in the same shape. Keep the same rhythm for each so the pattern is clear, then slow right down for “truly dance”.
- The chapter in the book runs longer than this. Stop where the text here stops, so the reading ends on the dance.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “On Death, from The Prophet” take to read aloud?
“On Death, from The Prophet” takes about 55 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 Death, from The Prophet”?
Usually the officiant rather than a guest reader. “On Death, from The Prophet” runs about 55 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 Death, from The Prophet” 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
- On Marriage, from The Propheta minute and a halfGibran’s chapter on marriage, from the same book
- Deep Peace (from the Invocation of Peace)30 secondsAnother interfaith reading with no doctrine attached
- Ecclesiastes 3:1–8a minute and a halfA time to be born and a time to die
- Death Is Nothing At Alltwo minutesHenry Scott Holland
- Gone From My Sight — the shipa minute and a halfAttributed to Luther F. Beecher; widely printed as Henry Van Dyke
- No Man Is an Island (Meditation XVII)40 secondsJohn Donne