Poem: A Christmas Message
Books & Poetry
In the final Poet’s Corner for 2022, Phil Saunders reflects on a solemn display of British pageantry and a Christmas tradition that will be delivered differently this year.
A Christmas Message
Skies favoured an Elizabeth and all that day
to give a sunny slightly cloudy one
that only felt were the millions’ tears as
pageantry as performance art decades in the making
built on centuries of tradition as only Britons could provide
spellbound a world caught in wonder
Mall a long tunnel
aloft Union Jacks red, white and blue
floor of grey macadam
red-coated service personnel facing in
black-uniformed police facing out
crowd a congregation unusually still
the parade thousands of feet in step to drum metronome
anthems from military bands stirring hearts
coffin draped in family standard
flowers, son’s card, orb, spectre and crown atop
grieved family stepping behind
their tears too ready for release but held by royal stoicism,
earthen ground of Horse Guards Parade
mourners passage insignificant amidst its broad sweep
men as horses pulling the materiel of war
used for this peacetime grim occasion
carrying monarch’s remains
white-topped hats like plates gathered for a dinner
citizens thirty deep to see this last pass by
emotional tsunami of humanity yet not drowning
dignitaries bussed, their rows of black
separated by rows of program white, seen
from above as a black and white checkerboard panorama
of pieces briefly still
the towering grandeur of the venue
dwarfing humanity’s mourning rites.
Intones an archbishop:
service in life hope in death world without end –
no Christmas message from a mother this year,
one from a son.
Phil Saunders lives in Adelaide after times in Melbourne, Sydney and Christchurch. Currently a consultant in governance and operations quality control across disability and aged-care portfolios, he has been a script- and copywriter, policy officer, magazine and report editor. His poetry has appeared in UK and Australian journals, on ABC Radio and previously in Poet’s Corner.
Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to poetscorner@solsticemedia.com.au. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.
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