This poem is often read at funerals but originally from a sermon preached in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, Sunday 15th May 1910 by Henry Scott Holland; delivered following the death of King Edward VII…

The cows have been milked, the chickens are fed,
The sheep and the oxen are safe in their shed;
On the back of the stove, the coffee is hot,
The corn-mush bubbles and steams in the pot,
The lamp is trimmed and ready to light –
Your father is late in coming tonight.
(Children, listen, hush your prattle –
We might hear the wagon rattle.)

Your father will bring from the County Seat
Stocking and shoes to warm your feet,
A hood of wool to warm my head,
A barrel of meal, and flour, for bread.
(The cellar is full of garden-stuff
But winter is coming and that’s not enough.)
He’ll bring a wagon-load of coal:
When storm winds blow and snow-clouds roll,
Cobs and cow-chips and and twist of hay
Will never keep the cold away.
But best of all, he will not fail
To bring letters from home. He will bring the mail.

Listen, children! Now , I hear
The rattle of wheels and a whistle clear
And loud across the night.
Quick, light the lamp. He must see the light.
The rattling wheels are coming near.
Children! Children! Your father is here!

—Unknown, Prairie Poems

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost, poem originally published December 1920.