Here are some readings and poems about the death of a mother. We’ve included a selection of religious and non-religious pieces with different moods. Some are sad, some are uplifting and some feel like a bit of both. You’ll also see a couple of short ‘loss of mother’ poems. These would work well as verses for funeral flowers or sympathy cards.
Readings for Mum’s funeral
Non-religious funeral readings for Mum
A quote by Washington Irving
Washington Irving was a 19th-century author who wrote famous stories like Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In this quote, he talks about how a mother’s love can make us feel better, even when things seem hopeless.
"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
From Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
In this scene, the children in the story have fallen asleep. As midnight falls, their mother walks around the bedroom, kissing them goodnight and silently comforting them. Then she looks out of the window and is herself comforted by the light of the moon. This reading mentions prayers and souls but not necessarily in a religious way. It’s more about how our mums care for us and protect us from trouble.
"The clocks were striking midnight and the rooms were very still as a figure glided quietly from bed to bed, smoothing a coverlet here, settling a pillow there, and pausing to look long and tenderly at each unconscious face, to kiss each with lips that mutely blessed, and to pray the fervent prayers which only mothers utter. As she lifted the curtain to look out into the dreary night, the moon broke suddenly from behind the clouds and shone upon her like a bright, benignant face, which seemed to whisper in the silence, ‘Be comforted, dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds'."
You can read the full passage here.
Bible readings for mothers’ funerals
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
This famous Bible verse doesn’t mention mothers, but it would still make for a touching funeral reading for Mum. It’s all about love and what it really means.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
Proverbs 1:8-9
Like many Bible verses, this passage has multiple meanings. It reminds us to respect our parents and carry their wisdom with us. But when it asks us to listen to our father’s instructions, it might also mean that we should follow God’s teachings.
"Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck."
Other religious readings
A Hindu reading about the power of motherhood
This passage comes from book one of the Skanda Purana, a collection of Hindu texts. Here, ‘goal’ means a spiritual goal – and ‘water booth’ refers to a mother breastfeeding her children. The message is that mothers nourish and protect us, both physically and spiritually.
"There is no shade like mother; there is no goal like mother; there is no other protection like mother; there is no water booth like mother."
Funeral poems for Mum
Goodbye funeral poems for Mum from a daughter or son
Sonnets Are Full of Love by Christina Rossetti
A sonnet is a type of poem that’s often used to express romantic love. In this sonnet, however, Christina Rossetti writes about the love she feels for her mother – a love that will outlast life, death and time itself.
"Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome
Has many sonnets: so here now shall be
One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from me
To her whose heart is my heart’s quiet home,
To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee
I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;
Whose service is my special dignity,
And she my loadstar while I go and come.
And so because you love me, and because
I love you, Mother, I have woven a wreath
Of rhymes wherewith to crown your honoured name:
In you not fourscore years can dim the flame
Of love, whose blessed glow transcends the laws
Of time and change and mortal life and death."
Maybe My Most Important Identity is Being a Son by Raymond Antrobus
This poem isn’t about losing a mother, but it’s still suitable for a funeral. The poet talks about the good and bad sides of his mother’s personality. She’s self-sufficient but is constantly losing things. She can be spiteful but is happy to spend hours helping him out. Then he ends with a simple tribute: ‘Immortal mother’.
Read the poem at Poetry Foundation.
‘I miss you Mum’ poems
The Last Skin by Barbara Ras
‘The Last Skin’ would work well as a ‘goodbye Mum’ poem for an older daughter to read. The person in the poem tries hard to cling to memories of her mother but finds it hard to keep the connection alive. As she gets older, however, she sees her mother in her own ageing skin.
You can read the poem here.
Rock Me to Sleep by Elizabeth Akers Allen
Here’s an old-fashioned bereavement poem that’s still easy to relate to. The poet wishes she could turn back time and be a child in a crib, watched over by her loving mother.
"Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,
Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you!
Many a summer the grass has grown green,
Blossomed and faded, our faces between:
Yet, with strong yearning and passionate pain,
Long I tonight for your presence again.
Come from the silence so long and so deep;—
Rock me to sleep, mother, – rock me to sleep!"
This is just an extract. You can read the full poem here.
Non-religious funeral poems for Mum
Mother’s Apron by Joyce Johnson
Sometimes the smallest thing – like a piece of clothing – can hold the most powerful memories. In this uplifting grief poem, Joyce Johnson uses her mother’s apron as a symbol of motherly love.
Read the poem here.
Tribute to Mother by John Greenleaf Whittier
‘Tribute to Mother’ is a poem about tough love. The poet remembers being disciplined by his mother as a child but now realises it was all because she cared for him.
"A picture memory brings to me;
I look across the years and see
Myself beside my mother's knee.
I feel her gentle hand restrain
My selfish moods, and know again
A child's blind sense of wrong and pain.
But wiser now,
a man gray grown,
My childhood's needs are better known.
My mother's chastening love I own."
Funeral card verses for Mum
From Poems Done on a Late Night Car by Carl Sandburg
Here’s a simple and beautiful funeral verse for Mum. In three short lines, it tells a touching story about motherhood, childhood and compassion.
"Here is a thing my heart wishes the world had more of:
I heard it in the air of one night when I listened
To a mother singing softly to a child restless and angry in the darkness."
From Only One Mother (author unknown)
This poem is about cherishing your mother while she’s still around. It has 4 verses. Any one of them would be suitable for a sympathy card.
Read ‘Only One Mother’ here.
More poems and readings
Photo by Xavier Mouton Photographie on Unsplash.