Remember Me [To the living, I am gone/.. For if you always think of me, I will never have gone]

Poem

To the living, I am gone,
To the sorrowful, I will never return,
To the angry, I was cheated,
But to the happy, I am at peace,
And to the faithful, I have never left.

I cannot speak, but I can listen.
I cannot be seen, but I can be heard.
So as you stand upon a shore gazing at a beautiful sea,
As you look upon a flower and admire its simplicity,
Remember me.

Remember me in your heart:
Your thoughts, and your memories,
Of the times we loved,
The times we cried,
The times we fought,
The times we laughed.
For if you always think of me, I will never have gone.

-- Margaret Mead--

About

This poem is frequently attributed to Margaret Mead, but the provenance is uncertain.

Author

Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist. She had a research focus on attitudes towards sex in the South Pacific and was an influence on the 1960s sexual revolution. In 1976 she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She was born in Philadelphia and died in New York City.

Other Remember Me funeral poems

• Remember Me [with smiles and laughter]
  • By Michael Landon, often attributed to Laura Ingalls Wilder
  • From Little House on the Prairie TV show
• Remember Me [Do not shed tears when I have gone but smile because I have lived]
  • By David Harkins
  • As read by Queen Elizabeth at the Queen Mother’s funeral
  • Different versions – She is gone: “You can shed tears that she is gone / or you can smile because she has lived”
• Remember Me [speak of me as you always have done]
  • By Anthony Dowson
• Remember [me when I have gone away]
  • By Christina Rossetti