Ode to Queen Elizabeth 11

“Beyond the pomp and pageantry of a life assumably well lived, ordinary citizens can never imagine her days emblazoned with court curtseys, chaplain and champagned hospitality, that every single fart will be echoed in the hallway, and every announcement like musical notes, can redirect movement of the share market. Yes, the few castles she shuffled year in and out are big and wide, but just like an ordinary citizens abode, try if we may, ambulating around it day in day out, for 365 days a year, for seventy years, never ever for once, ‘freely’ coming out to shop nor bargained, fetching her own kids to and from school nor have her occasional coffee breaks with some best friends, never ever paid a bill nor slippered a cockroach, never ever making her own appointments with her local dentist nor cancelled a flight, never made to queue nor made her own breakfast wearing just singlets and shorts. Instead she shuffled through scheduled events pretending to be interested in something she doesn’t, pretending to look intelligent with things she doesn’t understand, pretending to smile at something she wasn’t amused at, putting on outfits carefully coordinated for her though they are technically designer uniforms, and having royal advisers breathing down her neck. To commoners, all these sound like a lifetime of Imprisonment. But are they? From cradle to castle to crown to casket and now handling them all to a bloke called Charlie, can anyone ever imagine her anxiety mothering not only her heir but her nation as well as the commonwealth ? They are all unplugged stage play with no room for mistakes and eventhough the first ball pen she uses maybe a Mont Blanc, affixing her signature onto documents have serious implications. But still, for the many years she assumed by birthright the role of queen, she has in quiet dignity, outperformed the many heads of state of our world in stature and respect, charm, calmness, composure and in handling crisis. As for Charlie and his consort, good luck and we hope to see the age of Charleston being revived in good fun!”

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