A Poem for Third Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s Death, by Cynthia Erlandson

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Thy Servant Elizabeth

_“Well-done, unswerving servant,”
_All the church bells rang
_On all the roads of England,
_While all the angels sang
_Above the long procession
_That formed her funeral;
_The car conveyed her body
_As her Christ assumed her soul.

_In clashing grief and triumph,
_The strong-voiced, iron-tongued
Choir of bells proclaimed that she
_Now wore the crown she’d longed
_To wear, and now was free from
_The heavy earthly one
Whose weight she’d taken as her cross.
_Humbly laying down
Her life, she died to self, to do
_The task that she was given
By her Creator, bearing fruit
_On earth, to win in heaven
_A crown whose weight is glory.
_Westminster’s sculpted stone
Cries out, with every English bell,
_“Your earthly task is done.

You wear the crown reserved for you,
_Given by the King
Whose kingdom never ends.” While you,
_Our queen, are entering
His realm, earth’s bells express our thanks
_For your illustrious reign,
And sorrow for the vanished grace
_You spread through this domain.

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Cynthia Erlandson is a poet and fitness professional living in Michigan.  Her third collection of poems, Foundations of the Cross and Other Bible Stories, was released in July, 2024 by Wipf and Stock Publishers.  Her other collections are These Holy Mysteries and Notes on Time.  Her poems have also appeared in First Things, Modern Age, The North American Anglican, The Orchards Poetry Review, The Book of Common Praise hymnal, The Catholic Poetry Room, and elsewhere.