Funeral reading
Requiem
Robert Louis Stevenson
“Requiem” by Robert Louis Stevenson is a poem read at a funeral or memorial service. It takes about 30 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
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. This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from sea, And the hunter home from the hill.
Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.
Where it comes from
Stevenson printed Requiem in his 1887 collection Underwoods. After Stevenson died in Samoa in 1894 he was buried on Mount Vaea, and an epitaph based on Requiem is inscribed on his tomb.
What it says
Eight lines, written as instructions for the speaker’s own burial. Bury me under the open sky; I was glad to live and I am glad to die, and I lay down willingly. Then the speaker dictates the words for the headstone: here he lies where he wanted to be, home like a sailor back from the sea and a hunter back from the hills. It is calm and unsentimental, and it treats death as the end of a good day outdoors rather than a tragedy.
Thirty seconds, outdoors, no microphone needed. Made for a graveside. Read at a funeral or memorial service. Themes: home is the sailor home from the sea · gladly did I live and gladly die · very short · a traveller · a hunter · graveside.
Who it suits
Someone who loved the outdoors: walkers, hunters, sailors, travelers, farmers, people who spent their lives away and came home at the end. It suits a full life and a death the person was ready for, and families who want nothing churchy. Because it is in the first person and written for a man, consider changing “he” to “she” for a woman; many families do, and it reads naturally.
Where it goes in the ceremony
Built for the graveside, read just after the committal or as the last words before people leave. At a chapel or crematorium service it works as a closing reading. The officiant can read it, and it suits a son, a brother or an old friend.
Reading it aloud
The text on this page is 58 words. At a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, which is slower than conversation, that comes to about 25 seconds of reading.
- It takes about half a minute. Do not hurry to fill it out; the brevity is the dignity.
- Read “Glad did I live and gladly die” with the stress on the two “glad” words. It is a statement, not a lament.
- The second stanza is the epitaph inside the poem. A small pause after “This be the verse you grave for me” sets it apart.
- Outdoors, face the family rather than the grave, and pitch your voice to the back of the group; there is no microphone at most gravesides.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “Requiem” take to read aloud?
“Requiem” takes about 30 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 “Requiem”?
Usually the officiant rather than a guest reader. “Requiem” runs about 30 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 “Requiem” 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
- Crossing the Bar55 secondsAnother short Victorian poem about going home by sea
- Invictus55 secondsFor the same unbowed, outdoor kind of person
- Words of Committal — no religious framing40 secondsCommittal words with no religious content, to read before it
- On His Books10 secondsHilaire Belloc
- Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep40 secondsCommonly attributed to Mary Elizabeth Frye
- Remember55 secondsChristina Rossetti