The Queen is resting in her grave,
along with those who came before
as rulers of this Empire that once
dominated the world but is now
a shrunken cloth claiming divine right.

And resting in their graves far away
are those who saw no ceremony and
acclaim as they were thrown contemptuously
in unmarked graves, not worthy even of
anything but a final piece of sacred country ground
to call their once and always final home.

God save the Queen, they used to say,
but god gave nothing but gun and disease
to those whose ways were not those of crown
and Empire, and god came dressed in a flag
and proclaimed terra nullius on all he touched.

The Queen is gone but not the histories, not
the memories, they still exist though forgotton
in this momentary grief that covers over the sins of
the fathers and reflects the amnesia that has
befallen all who see the Crown as god-ordained.

 

20/9/2022