Do you want to say a few words at your wife’s funeral? Are you giving a funeral speech or eulogy? You may want to include a quote or poem to help express your grief or show your love.
In this article, you’ll find a selection of poems and readings that would suit a wife’s funeral. There’s a mix of religious, non-religious, uplifting and sad pieces, so you can choose one that feels right for the funeral you’re planning.
We’ve also included a few short ‘loss of a spouse’ poems, which would work well in a sympathy note or condolence card.
Funeral readings for a wife who has died
Non-religious funeral readings
‘Love is like liquid’: words of wisdom by Kate O'Neill
The author Kate O’Neill has written many comforting words about death. In this quote, she says that love never goes away – it just changes. When a person dies, their love pours out and ‘seeps into others’ lives’ like water.
‘It feels like being mildly drunk’: a reflection on grief by C.S. Lewis
When C.S. Lewis’s wife died in 1960, he wrote a whole book about it. This is an excerpt from that book, where Lewis compares his grief to fear, concussion and ‘being mildly drunk’. He says he feels numb and distracted – as if there’s an ‘invisible blanket’ between him and the outside world.
Bible funeral verses for a wife
1 Corinthians 15: 51-55
This famous passage is about the Second Coming of Jesus. Its writer, Paul, believes that all good Christians who die will come back and live forever with God.
The verse reminds us of a key Christian belief: if you accept Christ into your heart, life will always triumph over death.
"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory."
You can read the full chapter here.
John 14: 1-4
Are you looking for some words of comfort to read at your wife’s funeral? In this verse, Jesus speaks to his disciples before his crucifixion. He reassures them that he’s going to heaven to be with God – and that they will see him again when they die.
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."
The full chapter is available here.
More religious readings
Sometimes (Footsteps) by Maggie Dent
‘Sometimes (Footsteps)’ is about the people we meet and the way they shape our lives. Some people leave an impression on our minds and change the way we think. Others touch our hearts and make us feel loved. But occasionally, we meet very special people who ‘leave footprints on our souls’.
A Hindu quote about immortality
This verse from the Bhagavad Gita reminds us that we shouldn’t grieve for a person’s physical form because that form is only temporary. Hindus believe that when a person dies, their spirit lives on and they are reincarnated as another living creature.
"The Spirit is said to be unexplainable, incomprehensible, and immutable. Knowing the Spirit as such, you should not grieve for the physical body."
Funeral poems for a wife who has died
‘Loss of a wife’ poems
The Going by Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy wrote this poem after the death of his wife in 1912. It’s a very sombre piece that expresses some of the darkest emotions we feel when we lose someone. There are hints of shock, disbelief and even anger in the poem.
"Why did you give no hint that night
That quickly after the morrow’s dawn,
And calmly, as if indifferent quite,
You would close your term here, up and be gone
Where I could not follow
With wing of swallow
To gain one glimpse of you ever anon!"
This is just an extract. The full poem is here.
Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare
This is one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets. With its message of everlasting, unchanging love, it would work beautifully as a funeral poem for a wife.
"Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom."
Read the complete poem at Poetry Foundation.
Poems about a husband and wife reunited in death
Exequy on His Wife by Henry King
‘Exequy’ is an old-fashioned word for a funeral poem. This one is a long and passionate tribute to the poet’s wife. He says he’ll go on living after her death, but he’ll only have ‘half a heart’ until they meet again in Heaven.
"With hope and comfort. Dear — forgive
The crime — I am content to live
Divided, with but half a heart,
Till we shall meet and never part."
The complete poem is here.
The Widower by Rudyard Kipling
‘The Widower’ is a poem that seems sad but has quite a comforting message. Kipling accepts that ‘for a season there must be pain’, but knows that it’s temporary. When he dies, his wife will rescue him from his ‘troubled night’ and take him safely into the afterlife.
"For that season we must be apart,
For a little length of years,
Till my life’s last hour nears,
And, above the beat of my heart,
I hear Her voice in my ears."
Funeral poems for a wife and mother
Memories by Ruth Van Gramberg
‘Memories’ would make a good funeral poem from a husband to a wife and mother. It’s written from the wife’s point of view and talks about love, dreams and motherhood in beautiful detail.
Read the poem and see what you think.
So God Made a Farmer’s Wife (author unknown)
You don’t have to be a farmer to take comfort in this ‘loss of a partner’ poem. It’s more about traditional family roles and teamwork. The farmer works hard in the field, but his wife shows strength in different ways.
You’ll find the poem here.
Short sympathy verses for the loss of a wife
From In Memoriam A.H.H. by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote this funeral poem after the death of his friend in 1839. It’s the source of the famous proverb, ‘It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’.
"I hold it true, whate’er befall,
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all."
The complete poem is available here.
From Music, When Soft Voices Die by Percy Bysshe Shelley
This is one of the most famous poems of the Romantic movement. It’s about how memories live on in our minds and senses long after events have passed.
The second verse would be perfect as a sympathy note. Alternatively, you could use it to finish a funeral eulogy reading for a partner.
"Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the belovèd’s bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on."
Photo by Thomas Curryer on Unsplash