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The Funeral of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother |
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Andrew Motion, the Poet Laureate, has written a poem to mourn the passing of the Queen Mother and celebrate her life. Here we publish the poem in full.
You can also read Andrew Motion's celebration of the Queen Mother's 100th birthday
REMEMBER THIS
Think of the failing body now
awake in its final hours although
the fizz and scythe of city wheels,
the pigeon-purrs, the way light steals
across a bedroom wall then goes,
are not the things this body knows,
held in a trance of fading light
before that dies, and gives the sight
of what it means to be set free
from self, from sense, from history.
In the swirl of its pool
the home-coming salmon
has no intuition
of anything changed,
just that the silver
cord of its current
is clear water running
the lid of its sky
light soaking through light,
without any shadows
of faces or lines
to splinter its path,
and pull out of true
the course of its mind.
Think of the flower-lit coffin set
In vaulted public-space, in state,
so we who never knew you, but
all half-suspect we knew you, wait,
and delve inside our heads, and find
the harsh insistence in our mind
which says we're honouring a time
that simply as a fact of time
could only end, as only must
our own lives turn from dust to dust.
In the grip of their season
the sky-scraping trees
continue their business
of plumping up buds
without any idea
of what it might mean
so long as leaves shoot
in the polishing breeze,
so long as leaves fall,
so long as the burden
of sunlight and dark
rolls round its O
without changing its plan
or resting its weight.
Think of the standard and its blaze
the tightened focus of our gaze,
as now the coffin glides away
through London's traffic-parted day
and we, who estimate our loss
in ways particular to us,
can start to understand that here
we see our future coming clear -
our selves the same yet also changed,
and questioning, and re-arranged.
On the crest of their Downs
with galloping sunlight
the horses in training
know in their bones
nothing but racing,
so all they can manage
today is the beauty
of sprinting and spurting
mud-moons behind them,
the draggle of mufti
wind-burning to silk,
the unbuttoned gasp
of pleasure and longing
at what might be won.
Think of the buried body laid
inside its final earthly shade,
in darkness like a solid cloud
where weight and nothing coincide
in silence which will never break
unless real angels speak,
while we who wait our turn live on
re-calculating what has gone -
time-tested dignity and pride
and finished work personified.
In the eyes of our minds
when the country and cities
turn back to themselves
this history stays:
the four generations
which linked with your life
re-winding their span
to childhood again,
and seeing you stand
at the edge of their days,
where if they so wished
you helped give a shape
to slipstreaming time
with a wave of your hand.
Send your comments and tributes to the Queen Mother.
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Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. |
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Listen - from the crowd waiting outside Westminster Abbey and the Duke of Devonshire. Andrew Motion reads his poem written for the Queen Mother, "Remember This". |
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Listen - the Prime Minister of New Zealand pays tribute to the . |
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The Queen Mother's coffin |
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Andrew Motion |
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The main reason that I chose to attend the lying-in-state of The Queen
Mother is that it is very much like attending Remembrance Sunday. On that
day, I give thanks to those who gave their lives so that I can live as I do
today. The Queen Mother also gave her life, in a different way, that
provided a beacon of hope during the war and a ray of sunshine thereafter
and she accepted the heavy burden of her role with a grace that few can hope
to achieve with much lesser burdens.
Britain is the poorer for her passing and the respects shown by the crowds,
standing for hours in good humour and companionship, show our respect for
her and for the institution of the Monarchy. For me, it was the only way to
let the Royal Family know that I care and value them.
Antony Hurden
News of King George VI's accession to the throne was headlines on the day I
was born (11/12/36). Monarchy was thrust upon him and his Queen Consort. In
my view, the British Nation got the better bargain; as subsequent events were
to prove.
Queen Elizabeth, as the Queen Mother, was to serve us for another 50 years
after the accession of the Queen, and to stand as an example to us all.
I am an atheist, but I say, "If there is a god, 'God bless her'." She will
be sorely missed.
John McDonald, Swansea
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