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.
What it is about
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.
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
- A Psalm of Life — selected stanzasa minute and a halfHenry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Remember55 secondsChristina Rossetti
- Requiem25 secondsRobert Louis Stevenson
- Invictus55 secondsWilliam Ernest Henley
- Because I could not stop for Deatha minute and a halfEmily Dickinson
- Death Be Not Proud (Holy Sonnet X)55 secondsJohn Donne