His Poem on the Late Queen
Applications Sovereigns have to Bear
I was, says Truth, favoured the other day with letter signed “Sir William Topaz McGonagall, K.O.W.E.B.,” enclosing a printed copy of a poem on “The Death of the Queen.”
K.O.W.E.B. stands, it appears, for Knight of the White Elephant, Burmah. The Knight asks me to “find a corner” for his poem, but he might as well have asked to find a corner for the white elephant. My space has, unfortunately, too many claims upon it, but here are few samples, just show what a K.O.W.E.B. can do when the spirit moves him:-
She has been model and faithful Queen,
Very few like her have been,
She has acted virtuously during her long reign,
And I’m afraid the world will never see her like again.And during her reign in this world of trouble and strife
Several attempts were made to take her life;
McLean he tried to shoot her, but he did fail,
But he was arrested and sent to an asylum, which made him bewail.The people around Balmoral should shed many tears,
Owing to her visits amongst them for many years.
She was very kind to the old infirm women there,
By giving them provisions and occasionally prayer.Many happy days she spent at Balmoral,
Viewing the blooming heather and the bonnie Highland floral,
Along with Prince Albert, her husband dear,
But, alas, when he died she shed many tear.I hope they are walking in heaven together as they did in life,
In the beautiful Celestial regions free from all strife,
Where God’s family together continually meet,
Where the streets are paved with gold and everything complete.
The Knight of the White Elephant has been in the habit, it appears, of making lyrical offerings like the above to the Royal Family. He prints the at the head of his latest poem letters of acknowledgment of other verses which he has received from the late Queen and from his present Majesty when Prince of Wales, and he has had from the King a letter of thanks for the above ode. I mention this because I do not, think that the trials and applications incidental to Kingship are always appreciated as they should be.
Dundee Evening Post, 6th March 1901
