Poems about stars, the universe and space for funerals

Losing someone is even harder when you don't necessarily believe in an afterlife. Sometimes the metaphor of your loved one going up to space or hanging out far away in the universe can be comforting as it encompasses the idea that they are still here, just unreachable now.

There Is A New Star Shining In The Sky Tonight by Sarah Hartwell

There is an old belief that the stars shining in the night sky are the spirits of those who have died. They have shed their earthly bodies and exchanged them for bodies made of light; thousands upon thousands of our dear departed friends all promoted to glory in the night sky. There is another saying that the brightest flame burns the shortest…

Venus, or Maybe Mercury by Robin Shectman

The evening star, that is not a star,

comes out, but was there all the time,

over the sunset, that is really

the earth’s turning;

and this is what we wish on:

may things be what they are not,

may blessings uncover themselves,

may we be restored to our rightful place

in the centre of things,

the sky inflamed with our desires,

crowded with messengers

anxious to carry them out.

Requiem by Robert Louis Stevenson

Under the wide and starry sky,

Dig the grave and let me lie.

Glad did I live and gladly die,

And I laid me down with a will

This be the verse you grave for me:

Here he lies where he longed to be;

Home is the sailor, home from sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.

The Sombre Astronomer by Michael Humphries

You said to look to the night skies

For there is no other love so resolute

Than the feelings we grow for others;

They are never absolute.

So jealously I stare at the stars

But you are all I see;

For they are where your heart resides

And where I long to be.

The Stars Have Called You Home by Donna Ashworth

The stars have called you home, love.

Up high, so far away.

I think they missed your brilliance,

they just couldn’t let you stay.

You’ve shone that light of yours, love.

on all the lives you touched.

We’ve known your joy for years and years,

I guess they thought ‘enough’.

They need your light up there now.

This world grows ever dark.

Your passion will rain down like love,

dripped into every heart.

The stars have called you home, now

we’ll miss you, every day.

And every night we’ll scour the skies,

to watch you, where you lay.

And when dark clouds are gathering,

and air’s too cold to breathe.

The life you lived will warm our bones,

and your star will help us see..

Universe By Steven Schnur

Up beyond the

Night sky, an

Indigo darkness like

Velvet

Embraces the farthest

Reaches of the mind,

Sun, moon, stars,

Everything.

Venus BY D. NURKSE

Death is coming

and you must build a starship

to take you to Venus.

Make it from a catsup bottle,

a flashlight coil,

a penny, the cat’s bell,

Mom’s charm bracelet.

They say that planet is torment,

whipped by circular wind,

choked in vitriol clouds.

But no. When you get there

it is a light in the sky

and I am with you.

If you find nothing else,

borrow the pleated wing

of a winter moth,

lighter than dust.