Your Guide to Funeral Planning | 12.07.2022

Guide To Planning Sailors' Funeral

Guide To Planning Sailors' Funeral

Reviewed By: Elizabeth Siegel

Cross Checked By: Joshua Siegel

4 min read

A Noble Tribute to Sailors and How to Organize a Funeral

A sailor’s life is always an intriguing one. Living life in the ocean, traveling over waters or even protecting them. When a sailor’s life has been so unique, it’s only fair to have a remarkable funeral, like their life.
If you’re looking to organize a funeral for a sailor, you could look into holding a sailor poem funeral. Depending on the kind of sailor he/she/they were, you can plan a funeral that is unique to their identity.

Sailor Poem Funerals and How Do They Work?

Poems are quite like the ocean; each line flows into the other and leaves a fulfilling feeling in the reader or listener. Poems are calming like the sea but can produce a tornado inside you with meaningful words. A sailor’s funeral can be the right place for beautiful poems to fill every corner of the room.
For different types of funerals, there are different poems that you could pick from.

Contemporary poems:

  • ‘The Cup of Ocean’ by Amos Russel- This poem is about the picturesque life on the sea. If you’re planning a funeral for someone who has been in love with the sea or has spent lots of time by the sea, this could be the right poem to dedicate.
  • ‘Sea Canes’ by Derek Walcott- This is a stirring poem about a man thinking of his friends that are now gone. This could be the poem at the funeral if you’re looking for a respectful or somber mood.
  • ‘A Life On the Ocean Wave’ by Epes Sargent- This is a poem dedicated to the ocean and its grandiosity. This poem will work well at a funeral for someone who loved the sea dearly. 
  • ‘Sea Fever’ by John Masefield- This poem deals with the emotions that come with missing the people you love and care about when you’re away from land, spending time by the sea.

Old poems:

  • ‘Requiem’ by Robert Louis Stevenson- This poem is about the poet coming to terms with death. A line from this poem includes, “here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from the sea.’ 
  • ‘Sea Calm’ by Langston Hughes- Langston compares the stillness of water to the stillness of the day. The poem could make for a somber dedication to the deceased.
  • ‘The Ship of life’ by John T. Baker- The poem talks about a ship moving into the horizon and moving out of sight. A line from the poem reads, “We’re built to cruise… until one day we sail away into infinity.”
  • ‘Death Shall Have No Dominion’ by Dylan Thomas- This is a spiritual poem that helps the reader reflect on death. The poem talks about how sailors “sink through the sea, they shall rise again.”

Navy Veterans:

  • "Crossing the Bar’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson- This is a reverent poem where the sailor is asking for his friends to avoid shedding a tear at his death. It’s an honorable poem to have at a navy veteran’s funeral. 
  • ‘O Captain! My Captain’ by Walt Whitman- This poem was written for Abraham Lincoln but was playing the role of a sailor in the poem. The poet addresses him as his captain, sailing a brilliant ship.
  • ‘A Sailor’s Ballad’ by Ruby Archer- In this poem, the poet asks the sailor to ‘never leave a loose end’. It is an honorable poem to recite at a veteran sailor’s funeral.
  • ‘The Old Sailor’ by Margeret E. Sangster- If the deceased were someone who had retired but would talk about missing the sea, this poem would be fitting for his funeral.

A Personal Goodbye

Sailor poem funerals can be deeply personal and effective. The poem creates an ambience that will be cherished by everyone present at the funeral. You can also choose to have a burial at sea. If you’re looking to buy a casket that will be durable and resistant, you can buy them from Titan Casket’s website.
You can also scatter the ashes into the sea to have the deceased close to the place he loved the most. The sea is often looked at as a cemetery for sailors and navy veterans, a perfect place for a sea-lover to rest in peace.