Short funeral poems for grandma
These verses fit on the back of a program or on a memorial card, and a grandchild can read them without much practice. The first four were written for this site. Change a detail so it matches her, like the tin, the porch or the number of grandchildren.
Every name
Memorial Templates · written for Memorial Templates
She counted grandchildren the way some people count the stars: out loud, and slowly, every name, and all of them were hers.
The button tin
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The cookie tin held buttons, never cookies, and we knew. We sorted them on her kitchen floor while she told us what she’d been through.
Time enough
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She lived to see her children’s children grow up and bring their own. She gave us all the time she had. It’s more than most have known.
Rest
Memorial Templates · written for Memorial Templates
Her hands were never still. Now let them rest.
“Rest” is short enough for the bottom of a prayer card under her name, or for a ribbon on the casket spray.
A crown of glory
Proverbs 16:31, King James Version, 1611
The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.
“Hoary” means gray or white with age. Some families explain that in a word before reading, especially if children are listening.
Poems about a long life
When a grandmother dies in her eighties or nineties, the feeling in the room is often more gratitude than shock. These readings speak to a life that ran its full course.
Up-Hill
Christina Rossetti, 1862
Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend.
But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn.
Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.
“Up-Hill” is a conversation about a long, tiring road and the rest at the end of it. The line “Those who have gone before” speaks gently to a grandmother who outlived her husband, her siblings and many of her friends. Because it’s written as questions and answers, two grandchildren can read it together, one asking and one answering.
Like a shock of corn
Job 5:26, King James Version, 1611
Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.
A shock of corn is a bundle of grain stood up in the field at harvest. This one verse suits a grandmother who grew up on a farm, or anyone who died at a great age after a full life.
Teach us to number our days
Psalm 90:12, King James Version, 1611
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Rabbi Ben Ezra (first stanza)
Robert Browning, 1864
Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made: Our times are in His hand Who saith “A whole I planned, Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!”
The full poem runs to 32 stanzas, and most families read only this first one. It treats old age as the part of life that makes sense of the rest, which suits a grandmother who was sharp and content right to the end.
Poems about growing old and being loved
When You Are Old
W. B. Yeats, 1892
When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
Yeats wrote this as a young man, imagining the woman he loved in old age. At a grandmother’s funeral it reads as a picture of her whole life: the young woman in the old photographs and the woman by the fire. A grandfather can read it, or a grandchild can read it for him. The phrase “the pilgrim soul in you” also works on its own for a card.
Even to your old age
Isaiah 46:4, King James Version, 1611
And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
This verse promises to carry a person all the way into old age. It suits a grandmother whose faith was the center of her life, and it pairs well with “We carry her a while” on our funeral poems page, which turns the same idea toward the family.
Poems for a grandma who helped raise you
Many grandmothers did far more than visit at holidays. They did the school pickups, took grandchildren in for a summer or a few years, or raised them outright. These readings fit that kind of grandmother.
To Alison Cunningham (first six lines)
Robert Louis Stevenson, 1885
For the long nights you lay awake And watched for my unworthy sake: For your most comfortable hand That led me through the uneven land: For all the story-books you read: For all the pains you comforted:
Stevenson wrote this dedication in A Child’s Garden of Verses for the nurse who looked after him through a sickly childhood. These six lines thank someone for the nights up with a sick child, the bedtime stories and the hand held on the way to school. Later lines are specific to his nurse, so most families read only these. Because the lines end on a colon, finish with a short sentence of your own, such as “Thank you, Grandma.”
Thy grandmother Lois
2 Timothy 1:5, King James Version, 1611
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
This is the only verse in the Bible that names a grandmother. Paul writes that young Timothy’s faith came down to him from his grandmother and mother. It suits a grandmother who took the grandchildren to church or taught them their prayers. Some families say her name in place of Lois in the introduction (“Like Lois, Grandma Ruth passed her faith to all of us”) and read the verse as written.
Her kitchen table
Memorial Templates · written for Memorial Templates
Homework, coffee, cards and quarrels: it all went on at her kitchen table. She fed whoever sat down there and stayed as long as she was able.
Her porch
Memorial Templates · written for Memorial Templates
She watched for us from the porch every time we drove up the road. We’ll look for her there a while yet, the way she looked for us.
Newer poems about grandmothers
These poems are still under copyright, so they aren’t printed here. You can usually read one aloud at the service. Ask the publisher before printing the full text on a program or card.
Warning
Jenny Joseph
Uplifting
A woman looks forward to an old age of small rebellions. A happy choice for a grandmother with a sense of mischief, and often read at celebrations of life.
Lineage
Margaret Walker
Reflective
A short poem about the poet’s grandmothers: strong women who worked the land, sang and carried the family. Asks why the speaker is not as strong as they were.
Otherwise
Jane Kenyon
Reflective
A plain day described in full: breakfast, a walk, work, dinner with someone she loves. A quiet poem about how good an ordinary day is, for a grandmother who loved her routines.
How to choose a poem for your grandma and read it aloud
Choosing one
Think about the grandmother your family knew day to day. Did she pray the rosary, sing hymns while she cooked or go dancing at 80? Did she have a saying everyone remembers? A poem that catches one true thing about her is worth more than one that tries to sum up 90 years.
A few things to think about:
- Her faith. A grandmother who never missed church will be well served by a single verse of scripture. If her faith was private or she had none, Rossetti or Yeats speak of rest and love without preaching.
- Her age and health. After a long decline, “Up-Hill” and Job 5:26 speak to rest at the end of a long road. If she died suddenly while still active, Browning or “Warning” may suit her better.
- Who will read. Grandchildren are the most common readers at a grandmother’s funeral. A child under 12 will do well with one of the four-line verses above. A teenager can manage “Up-Hill” or “When You Are Old” with some practice.
- If she had dementia. Many families spent years watching a grandmother slowly lose her memory. A poem can honor the woman she was before the illness, which is often what the grandchildren most want to hear. Isaiah 46:4 and “Up-Hill” speak gently to the long road, and “The button tin” brings back the grandmother everyone remembers.
- Where it will be printed. Under 16 lines for the back of a program, and 2 to 6 lines for a card. Check it in your funeral program template or see short verses for memorial cards.
Older guests at a grandmother’s funeral may include her friends, many in their eighties. Choose a poem with plain words and say it clearly, so they can follow it by ear.
What to say before you read
A one-sentence introduction helps the room, and gives a nervous grandchild a moment to settle. A few you can adapt:
- “Grandma taught me this poem when I was seven, sitting on her porch.”
- “Grandma read this to every one of us at bedtime.”
- “We’re her grandchildren, and we’re going to read this together, one verse each.”
- “This verse was in Grandma’s Bible, with the page folded down.”
Reading it aloud
- Print it in 18 point type for a child or teenager, on one sheet, with every stanza clearly separated.
- Practice with the person who’ll stand next to them. If a parent or cousin is going up with a young reader, they should rehearse together at home.
- Decide who introduces it. If several grandchildren read, the oldest can introduce all of them, and the rest go straight into their lines.
- Slow down for the older listeners. Pause at the end of each line, and take a full breath between stanzas.
- It’s fine to cry. People at a grandmother’s funeral are glad to see a grandchild moved. Stop, breathe and finish when you’re ready.
If you are also speaking about her, see eulogy for grandma for examples, and obituary examples for a grandmother for her obituary.
For more readings by tone, see the full list of funeral poems.
Questions people ask
What is a good poem for a grandmother's funeral?
Christina Rossetti's Up-Hill suits a grandmother who lived a long, full life and was ready to rest. Isaiah 46:4 and Job 5:26 are short Bible readings about old age. For a grandchild reading, one of the four-line verses on this page is easier.
Should a grandchild read at grandma's funeral?
If they want to, yes. Grandchildren reading is common and people are glad to hear them. Choose something four to twelve lines long, print it in large type, and have a parent or older cousin stand with a younger child.
Can several grandchildren share one poem?
Yes. Split the poem by stanza, so each grandchild reads four lines and then steps back. Up-Hill works well for two readers because it is written as questions and answers.
What Bible verse is good for an elderly grandmother?
Proverbs 16:31 calls gray hair a crown of glory. Isaiah 46:4 promises to carry us even to old age. Job 5:26 compares a death in full age to grain gathered in its season. All three are short enough for a prayer card.