Thank you Ma’am

A more fitting final chapter could not have been written.

Through the calm of the Highlands, bathed in uncharacteristic sunshine and warmth, through London filled with noise, pomp and tradition, she arrives finally in Windsor, the same historic destination as that of her family gone before.

Her journey at its end.

Her role fulfilled.

Rainbows framing every last step of the way a coincidence? I like to think not.

And so it is here, after the baton has been passed on, in an oasis of calm, the lights of Piccadilly barely registered, that I pay my final respects.

Emerging blinking from under the trees’ canopy, my pupils adjust to the light.

As dusk descends on this nightly vigil and candles are lit , their flames dance hypnotically with arms entwined in solidarity with their floral counterparts’ fragrance.

An assault of the senses never forgotten.

The scene stretching before me is a silent patchwork of colours and textures woven together with intricate care and love.

Flowers, now past their prime, lie motionless amongst the still growing newly laid tributes. And while all beautiful and striking in their sheer numbers, it is the words on cards which have the ability to catch you unawares and once again draw tears which you thought had all been shed.

Crudely written words in crayon by a child, possibly only recently aware of their Queen but nevertheless offering love and thanks.
Words as deserving of a moments pause and silence as that of a poem framed with roses, crafted by the older, wiser hands of someone only too aware of the meaning of this loss.

Flashes of light catch the eye where the foil of balloons, while swaying, reflects lights from phones or cameras intent on capturing this moment, epic in it’s enormity, draining in its significance.

And so it is here, as I stand motionless as the light fades, a peaceful lull after all ceremony has come to an end, that as I turn to leave, a tribute left hanging on a branch catches my eye. A placard with a familiar silhouette of a behatted little bear, offering his final most fitting thought;

‘Thank you Ma’am for everything’