Poems Fit for a Prince

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Great Britain has a new heir to the throne.  The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a baby boy today, an infant who immediately becomes third in line to become the British monarch.  His arrival bumps Prince Harry into fourth place.

While combing through the Internet looking for a poem to honor the new Prince, I found two by former British Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, that he composed for the 21st birthday of the baby's father, Prince William.  The untitled poems are known simply as Side A (in Rap form) and Side B (more traditional).  Mr. Motion said that he modeled them after old vinyl LPs and 45s.  Motion's poems for William highlight the changing nature of the monarchy as well as the immutable responsibilities that come with the crown.  They wish him a life of personal fulfillment while recognizing the constraints that come with being a King-in-waiting.  Those challenges will confront William's son as well.

The following are poems fit for a Prince.  It would be interesting to know how the role of the monarchy in the modern world will have changed by the time little Prince No-Name-Yet accepts the crown as the 42nd British monarch since William the Conqueror.


Side A
by Andrew Motion

Better stand back

Here's an age attack,

But the second in line

Is dealing with it fine.

It's a threshold, a gateway,

A landmark birthday;

It's a turning of the page,

A coming of age.

It's a day to celebrate,

A destiny, a fate;

It's a taking to the wing,

A future thing.

Better stand back

Here's an age attack,

But the second in line

Is dealing with it fine.

It's a sign of what's to come,

A start, and then some;

It's a difference growing,

A younger sort of knowing.

It's a childhood gone,

A step towards the crown;

It's a trigger of change,

A stretching of the range.

Better stand back

Here's an age attack,

But the second in line

Is dealing with it fine.

Side B

by Andrew Motion

Is twenty-one the threshold any more?

Why not eighteen? Whatever. Most of us

Can choose which line we draw between the past

And future; we can call our lives our own.

But you're not 'most of us'. You cannot tear

Yourself from your inheritance, or pass

Unnoticed to find out what suits you best.

You stand apart but never stand alone.

That's what our 'happy birthday' means today:

A wish that you'll be free to claim your life

While destiny connects with who you are -

A Prince and yet familiar common clay;

Your father's heir but true to your own faith;

A mother's son and silvered by her star.