Rhuby, here's a portion of a post of mine on this board from when one of our friends (mav) lost a friend a while back. It was the "Lend Me Your Words" thread:

>Here's the most poignant poem for a funeral service I know...I discovered it recently at The Poetry Archives courtesy of an English gentleman named Chesil who maintains his own poetry archives (Chesil's Favourite Poetry).
This moving poem first came to public attention after a copy was left in an envelope for his parents by Steven Cummins, a soldier killed on active service in Northern Ireland, to be opened in the event of his death. In the weeks that followed the first broadcast, some 30,000 copies were requested from the British Radio Programme: The Bookworm:

do not stand at my grave and weep

do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift, uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I did not die.

--Anon.

Some believe the poem has Native American roots, and it has been traced back to authorship there but never fully substantiated. Here's the other version:

Native American Prayer

I give you this one thought to keep --
I am with you still -- I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
do not think of me as gone --
I am with you still -- in each new dawn.<

I know there's some threads on the Poetry Archives http://emule.com boards that discuss the history of this poem, I'll see if I can search one up for you.