Dysfunctional family and the
Burdens of wearing her crown must
Have weighed the queen down, but
Her face didn't show it.
Her smile and gracious demeanor hid
The heaviness she must have
Carried inside.
I was a child when I saw bits of her
Coronation on T.V.
It was so solemn.
And when I heard the news yesterday,
"Queen Elizabeth the II has died," I was
Surprised at my reaction.
I felt dismay.
She wasn't my queen, and yet she
Seemed to be.
Her life was projected to the world.
She was a royal fixture who carried out
Her duties to the very end.
She aged gracefully.
(Where were her wrinkles?)
She was everything a queen should be.
I'm glad I'm not aware of her flaws.
Soon enough they will be aired, I suppose.
Books will be written "telling all."
But today I sense that an era has ended.
None will ever match her monarchy.
The queen is dead.
And I mourn her passing.