Funeral reading
Remember
Christina Rossetti
“Remember” by Christina Rossetti is a poem read at a funeral or memorial service. It takes about 55 seconds read aloud, usually by a guest reader. 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
Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay. Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of our future that you planned: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray. Yet if you should forget me for a while And afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once I had, Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.
Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.
What it is about
Ends by giving the family permission to be happy again. That is why it lands.
Read at a funeral or memorial service. Themes: remember me when I am gone away · better to forget and smile than remember and be sad · permission to move on · short · a young death.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “Remember” take to read aloud?
“Remember” 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 “Remember”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “Remember” runs about 55 seconds, which is a manageable amount to hand to a friend or family member. Give them a printed copy of their own, in a size they can read without their glasses, and tell them where to stand and how you will introduce them.
Can “Remember” 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
- Dirge Without Musica minute and a halfEdna St. Vincent Millay
- There Will Be Rest25 secondsSara Teasdale
- She Is Gone / Remember Me35 secondsDavid Harkins
- Afterglow — "I'd like the memory of me to be a happy one"30 secondsHelen Lowrie Marshall
- Requiem25 secondsRobert Louis Stevenson
- Crossing the Bar55 secondsAlfred, Lord Tennyson