In Competition No. 2899 you were invited to write a poem commemorating the birth of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.
The impetus for this comp was Carol Ann Duffy’s failure to deliver the goods. This made some people very cross, but as the official website of the British Monarchy makes clear, modern laureates are under no obligation on this front: ‘It is up to the individual poet to decide whether or not to produce poetry for national occasions or royal events such as weddings and funerals.’ Some may even argue that it was a wise decision on Duffy’s part; after all, previous laureates have produced royal-inspired verses that might have been better left unwritten.
In any case, you stepped into the breach with gusto. I was moved and impressed by the poems submitted by a group of seven- to eight-year-olds, which put some of the adult entrants to shame. Commendations also go to Coco Hills and Marc Woodward. Sylvia Fairley’s entry, a neat riff on Duffy’s ‘22 Reasons for the Bedroom Tax’, was a winner. W.J. Webster’s sonnet earns him the extra fiver. The rest take £25.
A baby safely born is always joy:
The labour overtaken by relief,
The skirling cry, no matter girl or boy,
A presence still not quite beyond belief.
This is the stuff of life that we all share,
Determining not what but that we are:
But sense of it’s then dulled with daily wear,
Perception’s doors being left at best ajar.
So when the press of every day makes space
To greet in celebration this new birth,
We are acknowledging what’s taken place
As regal symbol of our human worth.
It is to that idea that we respond:
The royal event proclaims a common bond.
W.J. Webster
So, fourth in line — the Cambridge line indeed,
tracing across the landscape something new
and unusurpable, and history’s need
to hold the female train secure and true.
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