Editor’s Note: Ursula Setlow Pearson wrote the following poem, “Two Queens,” in 2012, upon the occasion of her 80th class reunion at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. As it happened, that year was also the Diamond Jubilee celebration for Queen Elizabeth II, a multinational commemoration of the 60th anniversary of her ascension to the British throne.
Two Queens
Two queens were we
Celebrating our separate milestone jubilees;
Clad all in white, she rode in a splendid,
regal carriage;
Clad all in white, I rode in a golf cart of
uncertain vintage;
Her path was emblazoned by red, a flamboyant
hue,
My class color, though royal purple, was
much more subdued;
For each of us bands played above the crowds’
cheers
With music deafening parade attendants’ ears;
Her subjects lined London’s street in a
display of loyalty;
A procession of reunioning Smith alumnae
applauded me;
A battery of recording cameras pointed
directly at my face
With a curiosity as if I were an extra-
terrestrial from outer space;
All looked at me with an unmistakable awe,
Perhaps the first centenarian they ever saw;
The world was her witness on international
television,
Broadcasting her magnificent entourage
with elegant precision;
And yet, I hope, though hatless, I cut a more
fashionable image
Than the royal icon of wealth and privilege
Who, always surrounded by handmaidens
and servile lackeys,
Never toasted an English muffin or hulled an
English pea.
I think she was deprived in her very protected
life
Although she is both mother and wife;
But her husband is only a consort, she’s at the helm,
My husband, by contrast, was king of my realm;
Pomp and circumstance and adulation are a
monarch’s normal scene;
For plebeian me, it was a rare moment of
attention, fleeting as a dream;
Her number of years is her chief advantage over me;
She counted only 60; I was on an eightieth
reunion spree;
She will reign the many years till destiny
has its say;
My celebrity short-lived, I was queen for
only a day.
7/12/12
