What poem should I read out at the service for my grandfathers death?
My Pa was not a very sentimental man. He was brought up in a tough family environment and was an orphan from 8yrs old. He was very poor but built an engineering company up from te ground which is still extremely succesful today. He was pretty hands-on and had a very quick wit. The poem needs to be about 2 – 4 minutes long. Religious themed is ok. Any help would be great.
Thanks.
- Karen
Tags: Engineering Company, Family Environment, Grandfathers, Orphan, Poem, Sentimental Man, Wit
January 28th, 2009 at 3:12 am
Anthony Hopkins recited this moving poem in St Paul’s Cathedral, London at the funeral ceremony of the late Sir Laurence Olivier.
It is by Dylan Thomas and, if you read it slowly, forcefully and thoughtfully it will make a great impression.
Try to see the rhyme pattern and make it come out. It works around “day” and “they” and “bay” etc. Go to
to hear the poet reading it.
DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Commiserations and good luck.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
papa your childhood wasn’t good i guess
all what you wanted to see was happiness
you heart turned out to be a kind of stone
it’s still precious cuz for me it’ll shone
papa you had no perants to grow up wit
but it didnt stop you from making it
you always be mine, one of a kind
you’re shown anywhere on my mind
January 31st, 2009 at 5:07 pm
here below is a sonnet written by an Indian poet educated at Cambridge. It may suit your purpose :
Transiit, non Periit
(My grandfather, Rajnarayan Bose, died September 1899)
Not in annihilation lost, nor given
To darkness art thou fled from us and light,
O strong and sentient spirit; no mere heaven
Of ancient joys, no silence eremite
Received thee; but the omnipresent Thought
Of which thou wast a part and earthly hour,
Took back its gift. Into that splendour caught
Thou hast not lost thy special brightness. Power
Remains with thee and the old genial force
Unseen for blinding light, not darkly lurks:
As when a sacred river in its course
Dives into ocean, there its strength abides
Not less because with vastness wed and works
Unnoticed in the grandeur of the tides. —– Sri Aurobindo.