When I am dead, my dearest,Sing no sad songs for me;Plant thou no roses at my head,Nor shady cypress tree:Be the green grass above meWith showers and dewdrops wet;And if thou wilt, remember,And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,I shall not feel the rain;I shall not hear the nightingaleSing on, as if in pain:And dreaming through the twilightThat doth not rise nor set,Haply I may remember,And haply may forget.
Text from en.wikisource.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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Song (When I Am Dead, My Dearest) is in the public domain in the United States (first published 1862) and in the United Kingdom (author died 1894), so the words can be printed in a booklet without permission or a fee.