{"id":1116,"date":"2021-04-19T11:09:30","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T11:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?page_id=1116"},"modified":"2022-06-14T11:34:50","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T11:34:50","slug":"poetry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?page_id=1116","title":{"rendered":"Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A small selection of my poetry. If you’d like to read more pieces, have a look at my book Treasure in Dark Places: Stories and Poems of Hope in the Hurting<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jubilee 2022 – Resident Poet <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A journey of seventy years
A million cheers and a million fears
a lifetime of living your life out loud
And your courage out proud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All through our lives,
Our comforting constant,
Our always consistent
The distance of royalty
Wrapped up in valiant persistence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You lived through our history and made it your own
Through the jaws of war that tore and poured
with mud and tears in waterfalls
You followed your weighty call
Holding scarred hands as you
Traversed weary lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we crown our town with history\u2019s lore
As bunting tumbles and banners soar
As we cheer you on with all of Wellington\u2019s roar
As we clothe our streets with colours of day
And our midsummer fayre with rituals of May<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We remember you, all alone in your stall
Courageous in a cold embrace of wood-carved walls
Your mask a memorial of grief\u2019s wounded fall
Lost in an Abbey of remembrance.
Did you bite back the tears as you
pondered the years
Did you cling to the sides as you
fractured to pieces inside?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We remember you, in 1952
The day when you heard your life-changing news
Did you cry your grief out loud,
Or did you drown it in duty,
Frown it down under a cloud of doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You stood in that Abbey, in \u201853,
Solemnity\u2019s crown-weight so heavy
A tidal wave flooding the streets
Showering you in flowers
Wishing you all the hours in the world<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You took the reins and then you reigned
Your voice like a thousand sun-sparkled days
You took the royal throne of kings,
You walked this sceptred isle
You took the burden of royal ring
And hid your inner royal child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you wish for a sabbath,
A rest from your service?
Did you yearn for the waves of the sea?
Did you long for nature\u2019s soothing peace?
Did you sigh for the dream of a life
With no gaze of a billion eyes?
Did you groan at systems you longed to fight,
at murky histories of wrongs you wished you could right,
at politics and statecraft that squirmed against the light?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re a British institution,
A life-long resolution
Of giving and profusion
You\u2019re a long-lived consolation
A multi-layered constellation
A declaration of restoration
to our steadfast, weary, beautiful nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will light a beacon for you
Join the chain as we remember your reign
As we look to each other and share our stories
We remember the glory of kindness\u2019s measure
So we dig for treasure in Wellington\u2019s streets
And sing the song of a year of Jubilee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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