Funerals can truly be augmented by a poem that is apt and fitting for the person you have just lost. The following list of funeral poems about alcohol are perfect for someone who liked a drink – in a healthy way.
Beer Is Just Fine
by Roy Pett
Without any doubt or fear
my favourite drink is surely beer,
anything from pale, to brown ale
in fact any beer that’s on sale,
never halves, only pints or larger
stout, bitter, smooth or golden lager,
wonderful taste of malt and hops
produced from ripe natural crops,
must be drunk cold never warm
drinking good beer will do no harm,
beer surely doesn’t cause a beer belly
drink too much makes you very silly,
you can keep your spirits and wine
a good pint of beer to me is just fine,
beer is drunk north, south, east and west
every country thinks their beer’s the best.
The Beer Prayer
Author Unknown
Our lager, which art in barrels,
Hallowed be Thy drink,
Thy will be drunk, (I will be drunk),
At home as I am in the tavern.
Give us this day our foamy head,
And forgive us our spillages,
As we forgive those who spill against us,
And lead us not to incarceration,
But deliver us from hangovers,
For thine is the beer, the bitter and the lager,
Forever and ever,
Barmen.
A Drinking Song
by W. B. Yeats
Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
Fortifying The Spirits
by Michael Ashby
When the bell rings for last orders
Please don’t panic or get vexed
It’s simply time to sup this world’s last drink
Before ordering your first in the next.
It’s always opening time in heaven
And the alcohol doesn’t go to your head
It floats around in one’s ether
And fortifies your spirit instead.
The dinosaur scratchings are slightly chewy
And the Martian wine’s an unfriendly red
But not peeing in the night is pure delight
And leaves you longer to hang over your bed.
Your angel’s share is there to be asked for
Of the malt whisky escaped from oak casks
You can savour a peaty Macallan ‘46
For a drink that will forever last.
“The Traveler’s Rest” always welcomes departed drinkers
With a warm smile and a kindly nod
You’ll never have to put your hand in your pocket again
Because this really is a free house, thank God.
The Lost Drink
by Banjo Paterson
I have spent the night in the watchhouse –
My head was the size of three –
So I went and asked the chemist
To fix up a drink for me;
And he brewed it from various bottles
With soda and plenty of ice,
With something that smelt like lemon,
And something that seemed like spice.
It fell on my parching palate
Like dew on a sun-baked plain,
And my system began to flourish
Like the grass in a soft Spring rain;
It wandered throughout my being,
Suffusing my soul with rest,
And I felt as I “scoffed” that liquid
That life had a new-found zest.
I have been on the razzle-dazzle
Full many a time since then;
But I never could get the chemist
To brew that drink again.
He says he’s forgotten the notion –
‘Twas only by chance it came –
He’s tried me with various liquids
But oh! They are not the same.
We have sought, but we sought it vainly,
That one last drink divine;
We have sampled his various bottles,
But somehow they don’t combine:
Yet I know when I cross the river
And stand on the Golden Shore
I shall meet with an angel – chemist –
Who’ll brew me that drink once more.
To access our full list of funeral poems, click here.
All poems featured on this website are free to use during any ceremony, although it is good practice to make sure the author is mentioned, if known. Should you require a celebrant for your ceremony, be it a funeral, a wedding, a naming ceremony or something else, feel free to get in touch. I am a double award-nominated Family and Funeral Celebrant covering the entire UK, and would be happy to help you commemorate in a meaningful and personal way.
