Poet laureate Simon Armitage’s tribute to Queen Elizabeth includes her favourite flower

Simon Armitage calls his poem a ‘gift in return’ to Britain’s longest-serving monarch in exchange for a ‘promise made and kept for life’

Poet laureate Simon Armitage has honoured Queen Elizabeth II with a new poem titled “Floral Tribute”, which was shared on Tuesday (13 September).

The Queen died “peacefully” at Balmoral last Thursday, according to Buckingham Palace, having spent 70 years as head of state, outlasting her predecessors and overseeing monumental changes in social and political life.

Published by Faber, Armitage’s poem comprises two stanzas of nine lines each. It is a double acrostic, which means that the first letters of the lines in both stanzas spell “Elizabeth”.

Armitage calls “Floral Tribute” a “token of thanks” and a “gift in return” to Britain’s longest-serving monarch in honour of her gift of a “promise made and kept for life”.

“The country loaded its whole self into your slender hands,” Armitage writes, paying tribute to the Queen’s years of service, adding, “Hands that can rest, now, relieved of a century’s weight.”

He likens his poem and the Queen herself to her favourite flower, Lily of the Valley, which was part of her coronation bouquet.

Armitage writes: “This lily that thrives between spire and tree, whose brightness/Holds and glows beyond the life and border of its bloom.”

Armitage has served as Poet Laureate since 2 May 2019 when he met with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

He succeeded Dame Carol Ann Duffy, who was also at the palace for an audience with the Queen to relinquish the role.

For the Platinum Jubilee, Armitage wrote a poem, “Queenhood”, to mark her 70 years of service.

The poet, who was brought up in Marsden, West Yorkshire, has published some 30 collections of poetry and his work is studied by children as part of the national curriculum.

He worked as a probation officer in Greater Manchester until 1994 before focusing on poetry.

You can read Armitage’s poem in its entirety here.

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Additional reporting by Press Association