Death, be not proud, though some have callèd theeMighty and dreadful, for thou art not so:For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrowDie not, poor Death; nor yet canst thou kill me.From Rest and Sleep, which but thy picture be,Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow;And soonest our best men with thee do go,Rest of their bones and souls’ delivery!Thou’rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;And poppy or charms can make us sleep as wellAnd better than thy stroke. Why swell’st thou then?One short sleep past, we wake eternally,And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!
Text from gutenberg.org. Public domain in the US and UK.
Where it comes in the service
At a Catholic funeral Mass the readings must come from Scripture, so a poem belongs at the vigil or in the words of remembrance. A Church of England funeral can include poetry; the Church prints poems on its own funeral planning page. In a humanist ceremony, readings of poetry and prose follow the tribute.
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Death, Be Not Proud (Holy Sonnet 10) is in the public domain in the United States (first published 1633; this printing 1900) and in the United Kingdom (author died 1631; editor of the printing used died 1944), so the words can be printed in a booklet without permission or a fee.
Printed here as in the source, except: Line 7: replaced the dash after 'do go' with a comma (the 1633 printing, as transcribed on Wikisource, has a comma: 'with thee doe goe,').