Funeral reading
Crossing the Bar
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
“Crossing the Bar” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 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
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, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.
Where it comes from
Tennyson wrote Crossing the Bar in 1889 and, shortly before he died, told his son Hallam to put it at the end of all editions of his poems. It appears in his collection Demeter and Other Poems.
What it says
The speaker is about to sail out of a harbor at evening, over the sandbar at its mouth, and asks for a quiet crossing: no moaning of the water on the bar, no sad goodbyes. The tide should be full and calm, carrying back to the deep the life that came from it. In the last stanza it becomes plainly about death: beyond time and place, the speaker hopes to see the Pilot face to face. It is the voice of someone ready to go, asking those watching not to make the parting harder.
Tennyson asked for this to be printed last in every collection of his work. Read at a funeral or memorial service. Themes: putting out to sea · an old age death · no sadness of farewell · traditional · a naval family.
Who it suits
An old person whose death was peaceful and expected, and families with a naval, fishing or coastal background. It suits a quiet Christian faith, because the Pilot can be read as God without the poem ever saying so, and it sits comfortably at secular services as well. It is less right for a sudden death, since the whole poem is about being ready.
Where it goes in the ceremony
Often the last reading before the committal or the commendation, so “when I have crossed the bar” leads straight into the farewell. A grandchild or a friend often reads it; at a small service the officiant can.
Reading it aloud
The text on this page is 102 words. At a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, which is slower than conversation, that comes to about 45 seconds of reading.
- The stanzas alternate long and short lines. Let the short lines (“When I put out to sea,” “When I embark;”) be quieter and slower, like an ebb.
- The first and third stanzas mirror each other: sunset and evening star, twilight and evening bell. Read them with the same shape so the room hears the echo.
- “Bar” means the sandbar across a harbor mouth. If the family are not coastal people, the officiant can say so in one sentence before the reading.
- Give the final line a real pause before it. It is the line people keep.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “Crossing the Bar” take to read aloud?
“Crossing the Bar” 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 “Crossing the Bar”?
Usually a guest reader rather than the officiant. “Crossing the Bar” 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 “Crossing the Bar” 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
- Gone From My Sight — the shipa minute and a halfThe ship leaving the shore, seen from the shore
- Eternal Father, Strong to Save (the Navy Hymn)4 minutesThe Navy Hymn, for a service with a sea theme
- Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2:29–32)20 secondsAnother prayer of someone ready to depart in peace
- A Psalm of Life — selected stanzasa minute and a halfHenry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Remember55 secondsChristina Rossetti
- Requiem30 secondsRobert Louis Stevenson