A Poem Trilogy
(I wrote PETALS IN THE RAIN 2 days after Diana passed away.
It is from the "people's" perspective.)
(I then wrote CADENCE OF THE DAY, after watching her funeral.
It's written from "her" point of view.)
(The last in the trilogy was I WHISPER FOR YOU, and was written just
the other day.
It's as though "God" is writing it...)
--Richard Driskill--
PETALS IN THE RAIN
The tears, the pain, the hollowness,
now abounds us all.
Our hearts are torn asunder, our days are filled with grief.
How can we apologize?, we really must repeat.
What are we to say? What are we to do?
Can this really be the end? Won't she see us through?
Put aside the anger, wash away the grief,
for now we must respect her, her life was much too brief.
Our hearts are as one in the sorrowful passing,
of this our Queen of Hearts.
The homage we now pay is but
a pitance as she departs.
Our sweet young glimmer of hope,
has nurtured it all before.
In her romantic dream she sees,
love as an open door.
Will the little children,
come and wave farewell?
She really would have liked that,
knowing her so well.
Our lady of the world was bright,
her smile deep and pure.
Can we kiss you one more time,
as we bid ado?
The boys must really know by now,
what she meant to us.
Take strength, and joy, and happiness
and march on to a lasting trust.
A trust your mother has enscribed,
of peace and love and beauty.
We wish you all the best in life,
and have our deepest pity.
Please remember that your mom,
a woman of great beauty,
has like the flowers of the field,
bloomed in every city.
Won't you stop and smell a rose?,
It's really quite divine.
But then again my fair haired boys,
you've had one all the time.
Please be cautious of the petals,
as they are so fragile,
A touch, a breath, a movement too strong,
and they all unravel.
Oh sweet dear Diana,
a flower to us all,
on life's wide open plain.
Your beauty was so frail,
like petals in the rain.
We stand in utter silence,
nothing can be heard,
as she passes one last time,
our eyes are left to burn.
The tears will fill the streets of London,
dare I say the world!
Oh sweet love to all of us,
will we ever learn?
CADENCE OF THE DAY
In a line you follow me,
a father.. son.. brother.. son..
a husband once you were to me.
Atop a silent gun,
I lye for all the world to see.
Eight strong men, you bear me well,
a ninth to lead the way.
High upon your red, red shoulders,
I shall rest this very day.
In the flowers just above,
they quiver to the cadence.
Soft and white, they speak your names
can you feel my radiance?
Sisters, singers, clergymen,
what am I to say?
Can you hear me weeping,
in the cadence of the day?
The only thing I ask of you,
on this my day of rest,
is that you follow my sons too,
and take them to your breast.
Listen to the children,
their hearts are oh so pure.
Can you hear them pleading?,
their songs are love, nothing more.
In the middle of the lake,
I pledge my soul and take my stake.
From my soul and unto thee,
I cast my heart, and now am free.
I WHISPER FOR YOU
I whisper for you,
on a cool August night,
I whisper for you,
thirty-five past mid night,
I whisper for you,
in a flash of white light,
I whisper for you,
for your soul is so bright.
I whisper for you,
in a sea of flowers,
I whisper for you,
in my hallowed towers,
I whisper for you,
as the dark they do cower,
I whisper for you,
they now feel your power.
I whisper for you,
as your coffin they take,
I whisper for you,
in the breeze on the lake,
I whisper for you,
as the boys their hearts ache,
I whisper for you,
for all mankind’s sake.
I whisper for you,
as the people now band,
I whisper for you,
across my great land,
I whisper for you,
please take my hand,
I whisper for you,
in my promised land.
REST SWEET ANGEL
If only you could be here just one more day,
One more hour that we may say,
The things we feel and should have said before.
Yes we took for granted, your kind and loving ways
Assumed you'd always be here to brighten others days
A young shy girl, you grew rapidly beyond your years.
Perhaps through all the sadness you felt, and oh so many tears,
Your beautiful blue eyes, that we all adore
Your gentle lips and kind words, are silenced forever more.
A heart stopped beating, though doctors tried in vain
The Lord came down to free you, to take you from all pain.
Rest now sweet angel, peace has finally come.
Just a whisper of a breeze falls over you and through the trees
No more running, no more hiding or ducking from the flash
Skip through the fields of flowers and over the hills of grass.
Shirley Fiumara
I ALWAYS CRY WHEN SOMEONE DIES
Tears are falling from my eyes
I don't know what to do
I always cry when someone dies
But not as much as I cried for you
I miss you a lot, there's no doubt
And many thoughts are in my head
But I cannot sort them out
Because I don't want you to be dead.
But you cannot change the past
I guess this was meant to be
Even if I wanted you to last
I wanted you to stand by me.
Why did God take you away?
Why did he make me pay a price?
A price that makes my future look grey
Because I always cry when someone dies.
Mathias Nylund
TELL THEM THE STORY
For the children among us too young to remember Princess Diana:
As they get older, we must tell them the story...
Tell them there was once a different world than the one they know,
A kinder gentler place...where we held our hearts high
And looked up and felt that dreams could come true.
Tell them that there was once a beautiful fairy princess,
Who lived in a castle with her mythical prince...
Tell them how the fairy princess inspired us,
Gave us fantasies, hope, courage, and above all, heart...
Tell them in a quiet moment how the fairy tale was,
Like precious life itself, so much an illusion...
And yet realizing this was not so bad,
Because it allowed us to see
Our fairy princess as human, as one of us...
Tell them of the princess' selfless contribution
To making our world a better place,
And how while there are still cynical people, evil people
And people who were indifferent to her mystique, her magic,
Enough people loved her and she made a difference
To anyone with a true soul...
Tell them how this fairy princess
Humbled all whose lives she touched,
From the greatest world leaders and movie stars
To the common man and woman.
How she touched people of every culture...
And cast a glow upon us that will never fade.
Tell them about the princess' ability
To touch people's spirits and hearts,
But that she also physically helped those in need
And touched the hands of those
Whom the rest of the world had shunned...
Tell them that this princess
Came to the kingdom of humanity
To help us reach higher, go further
And show us the difference between myth and illusion.
And how she held herself with grace and dignity
Even as the illusion faded.
Tell them to look up at night,
When the sky is clear and bright,
And focus on a star...follow that star and watch
As it indeed spells out the name of that princess...
Explain that life is a gift we must cherish
And that we mustn't be selfish when it is time to let it go.
That it isn't about the material things,
But the spiritual, and the lives we touch
While we are here... that is what matters.
That death is only a physical loss,
But that love lasts forever.
That our fairy princess came to earth,
Touched us deeply and then
Had to be on her merry way...
Tell them that her departure crippled and dazed us,
But that it has also strengthened us
And filled us with wonder and new appreciation.
Tell them when the clouds begin to obscure those stars
To keep looking up...the clouds will fade at some point
And the stars will shine again...
And that the fairy princess is the one
Who showed us that such a thing is possible.
Tell them fairy tales don’t always end the way we'd like,
But that the love left behind
Is much more than the tale itself...
Tell them that those very stars shine brighter,
Ever so much brighter,
Because there was once a fairy princess...
Jonathan Widran
BLESSED BE ANGEL DIANA!
Last night I had a dream
In which an angel of light
Took me by the hand
As we floated out of sight.
She took me far away
To another land
Among beautiful trees,
Lakes and hills of sand.
We sat on a hillside
Beneath a big old tree
Everywhere I looked
I could clearly see
Angels everywhere
Gathering for a celebration
The sight of all the angels
Filled me with elation.
And I heard music of the spheres
And heavenly chimes rang
And Gabriel blew his horn
And the angels sang.
In celebration of an angel
Returning home
Along with her companion
To be near the throne.
And the angels sang Amazing Grace
In honor of Diana dear
And she had a smile upon her face
And I was glad that I was there.
And I heard it proclaimed
"A life of thirty-six years
A contract has been fulfilled".
And my eyes filled with tears.
"Blessed be Angel Diana",
The angels sang with glee
Then I knew she had made the world
A better place for you and me.
Then the angel whispered to me
As my hand she released
"Go back to that other land
Return in love and peace."
Yashah
Who is this knocking at my door
A raven I did not call
Battering to break in and take
What of life and what of love
What little I have of heart, of soul.
Death... how might I cheat death
When it is the swarming hords of flies
With their Nikons, Pentax and Canons
I do not care for their nibbling
Like dogs upon my flesh --
Even upon my bones!
Be gone! I am not ready to die
Not of my own hand or yours
Dear paparazzi who have made me
Yet wish nothing more but for
A final kick while I am down.
If it be a choice, me or my sons
Then dear God -- or devil -- take me.
Yet I sense not even my very life
Will satisfy the starving public eye
Which feeds upon the tabloids.
Rape me then if you must
Gorge your lenses upon my flesh
Yet leave my children alone
Or it will be you who rot in Hell
For in my death I prophesy
Is your fortune seeking demise.
If by chance someone finds this
After I am dead and gone
Give it to the world that they might know
I bargined with God and the Devil
And lost on both accounts.
Yet that's what a mother must do
And though I can not be a mother
To all of the down trotted of humanity
Some few I might touch with my heart
That my light, my love will be passed on
Far beyond my grave unto eternity!
Yet even as I ponder thus
Upon life and death I feel
The paparazzi are catching up on me
The drone of their cameras clicking
Chasing me out of life into the arms of death.
Could it be this is my delusion
Or some sense of fate for reason
Only God might fathom
Yet could I see beyond my own grave
Would I know then why I even was?
Am I too much a woman
For the world to handle?
If then I should die
What difference will my life have made
If this royal screw up my derriere
Should be my children's own fate?
Not what you might think a princess
Would speak -- which is why
I'll hide these thoughts away
In the void of cyberspace
Until that faitful day someone, somewhere
Unlocks the key and finds me.
Should it be then I live or am dead
Know that I am just like you
A mortal soul of flesh and bones
With dreams and imagination
This is but one of my nightmares
Or is it only a lady's muse?
Schooled in the graces I will not tell
A single soul of my perception
Seeing one's own death is madness
Or would be perceived as such
By the vulturous paparazzi tabloids
Madness or delusion I shall not judge
Let the presses roll and the paparazzi
Have their thrills, gloating over my death
For when I'm an angel I will be
As a guardian over my children
And all that is so sacred to me,
My country and humanity.
Sue Lay Sin Sept. 6, 1997
Words from the Heart
Grief, deep and unforgiving
Like a vise gripping my soul
As wailings of death bells--toll
From the land of Kings and Queens
Where lovers only love in dreams
Once a kingdom where the sun never set
Now a world mourning their Princess--
A fantasy rose who dared to bloom
A butterfly who dared to become--a cocoon
O Diana! Princess of Wales
Your life--a tragic fairy tale
Tears will mark this sorrowful day
As cherubims carry you to heaven's bay
Flags droop without wave
Anthem, take me to the grave
O life! O heaven! Please, heal this pain!
Naked Soul
Prince's Tears
Two stars in middle of the night
Lamenting the pale moon's--
Untimely flight
Midnight rain
Midnight rain
Pouring down memories
Pouring out pain
Naked Soul
Airport
Draped with Royal Standard
Earthly ground born to bear
Earthly temple without air
Silent, composed, in harmonious steps
Honor-guards, bearing our Princess
A rose without thorns
A diadem of honor
A saint is born--in sleep
Princess Diana
Naked Soul
“6 September 1997”
Mankind is many rivers
That only want to run.
Holy Tragedy and Loss
Make the many One.
Mankind is a Holy,
Crowned Mother and her Son.
For worship, for mourning:
God is here, is gone.
Love is broken on the Cross.
The Flower on the Gun.
Ted Hughes (poet laureate of England)
Time
Time is too slow for those who wait
Too swift for those who fear
Too long for those who grieve
Too short for those who rejoice
But for those who love
Time is eternity
by Henry Van Dyke [read by Lady Jane Fellowes, Diana's sister]
If I should die and leave you here awhile,
Be not like others, sore undone, who keep
Long virgils by the silent dust, and weep.
For my sake--turn again to life and smile,
Nerving thy heart and trembling hand to do
Something to comfort other hearts than thine.
Complete those dear unfinished tasks of mine
And I, perchance, may therein comfort you.
(read by Lady Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Diana's sister)
I stand before you today the representative of a family in grief, in
a country in mourning before a world in shock.
We are all united not only in our desire to pay our respects to Diana
but rather in our need to do so.
For such was her extraordinary appeal that the tens of millions of people
taking part in this service all over the world via television and radio
who never actually met her, feel that they, too, lost someone close to
them in the early hours of Sunday morning. It is a more remarkable tribute
to Diana than I can ever hope to offer her today.
Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty.
All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity, a standard-bearer
for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcended
nationality, someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who
proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate
her particular brand of magic.
Today is our chance to say ``thank you'' for the way you brightened
our lives, even though God granted you but half a life. We will all feel
cheated always that you were taken from us so young and yet we must learn
to be grateful that you came along at all.
Only now you are gone do we truly appreciate what we are now without
and we want you to know that life without you is very, very difficult.
We have all despaired at our loss over the past week and only the strength
of the message you gave us through your years of giving has afforded us
the strength to move forward.
There is a temptation to rush to canonize your memory. There is no need
to do so. You stand tall enough as a human being of unique qualities not
to need to be seen as a saint. Indeed to sanctify your memory would be
to miss out on the very core of your being, your wonderfully mischievous
sense of humor with the laugh that bent you double, your joy for life transmitted
wherever you took your smile, and the sparkle in those unforgettable eyes,
your boundless energy which you could barely contain.
But your greatest gift was your intuition, and it was a gift you used
wisely. This is what underpinned all your wonderful atributes. And if we
look to analyze what it was about you that had such a wide appeal, we find
it in your instinctive feel for what was really important in all our lives.
Without your God-given sensitivity, we would be immersed in greater
ignorance at the anguish of AIDS and HIV sufferers, the plight of the homeless,
the isolation of lepers, the random destruction of land mines. Diana explained
to me once that it was her innermost feelings of suffering that made it
possible for her to connect with her constituency of the rejected.
And here we come to another truth about her. For all the status, the
glamour, the applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person
at heart, almost childlike in her desire to do good for others so she could
release herself from deep feelings of unworthiness of which her eating
disorders were merely a symptom. The world sensed this part of her character
and cherished her for her vulnerability, whilst admiring her for her honesty.
The last time I saw Diana was on July the first, her birthday, in London,
when typically she was not taking time to celebrate her special day with
friends but was guest of honor at a fund-raising charity evening.
She sparkled of course, but I would rather cherish the days I spent
with her in March when she came to visit me and my children in our home
in South Africa. I am proud of the fact that apart from when she was on
public display meeting President Mandela, we managed to contrive to stop
the ever-present paparazzi from getting a single picture of her. That meant
a lot to her.
These were days I will always treasure. It was as if we'd been transported
back to our childhood, when we spent such an enormous amount of time together,
the two youngest in the family.
Fundamentally she hadn't changed at all from the big sister who mothered
me as a baby, fought with me at school and endured those long train journeys
between our parents' homes with me at weekends. It is a tribute to her
level-headedness and strength that despite the most bizarre life imaginable
after her childhood, she remained intact, true to herself.
There is no doubt that she was looking for a new direction in her life
at this time. She talked endlessly of getting away from England, mainly
because of the treatment that she received at the hands of the newspapers.
I don't think she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions
were sneered at by the media, why there appeared to be a permanent quest
on their behalf to bring her down. It is baffling. My own, and only, explanation
is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of
the moral spectrum .
It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps
the greatest was this; a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of
hunting was, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age.
She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved
boys William and Harry from a similar fate. And I do this here, Diana,
on your behalf. We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used
regularly to drive you to tearful despair.
And beyond that, on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that
we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative and
loving way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men,
so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can
sing openly as you planned.
We fully respect the heritage into which they have both been born, and
will always respect and encourage them in their royal role. But we, like
you, recognize the need for them to experience as many different aspects
of life as possible, to arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years
ahead. I know you would have expected nothing less from us.
William and Harry, we all care desperately for you today. We are all
chewed up with sadness at the loss of a woman who wasn't even our mother.
How great your suffering is we cannot even imagine.
I would like to end by thanking God for the small mercies he has shown
us at this dreadful time; for taking Diana at her most beautiful and radiant
and when she had joy in her private life.
Above all, we give thanks for the life of a woman I am so proud to be
able to call my sister: the unique, the complex, the extraordinary and
irreplaceable Diana, whose beauty, both internal and external, will never
be extinguished from our minds.
