Coronation

Out of the gloom the massed ranks peer  -
black-skinned, blue-rinse, straight and queer,
all of them smiling, drawing near:
something important happened here.

And in their patriotic gear
the King’s proud armies soon appear,
munching their cake and swigging beer:
something important happened here.

Now in this feverish atmosphere
the gates are stormed, to engineer
the adulation tinged with fear:
something important happened here.

From Cumbria to Dorsetshire
they came, admiring and sincere,
to wave their flags and loudly cheer:
something important happened here.

The pop star and the brigadier
joined hands with nurse and volunteer -
diversity shone bright and clear:
something important happened here.

Celebrities whose words, we hear,
make cameras flash, all swiftly veer
down this great catwalk of their career:
something important happened here.

And then, with placard-waving sneer,
someone shouts in royalty’s ear:
“Stick your crown right up your rear!” -
something important happened here.

He’s not within our social sphere,
this oaf who wants to rant and jeer -
the police will help him disappear:
something important happened here.

So polish democracy’s veneer,
and give free speech a proper steer -
then get bound over for a year:
something important happened here.

But no corrupt electioneer
or freedom-loving mutineer
could make us smile or shed a tear:
something important happened here.

The bunting’s gone, and every tier
of seating; cobwebs now adhere
to flag and hat and souvenir:
something important happened here.

And what survives? A rule that we’re
so proud to have and hold so dear -
to undermine what we revere:
something important happened here.

Some scorn this unelected Lear
anointed king by priest and seer -
they follow Trump and Vladimir:
something important happened here.

Though sour cynics carp and smear
this pomp and show in times austere,
we hang on to this vague idea:
something important happened here.

Let history be our scrutineer:
if this stability we shear,
we face the bomb, the gun, the spear:
something important happened here.

Our children in some future year
may ask "What were we doing here?”
The answer’s not entirely clear -
but something important happened here.



Jeff Gallagher

If you have any thoughts about this poem,  Jeff Gallagher would be pleased to hear them