Britain’s poet laureate honors wedding in verse

updated 7:48 a.m. ET April 9, 2005

LONDON - Britain’s Poet Laureate Andrew Motion alludes to the tribulations of Prince Charles’ relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles in a poem commemorating their wedding. The verses say the heart “slips and sidles like a stream” but eventually “Breaks loose to revel in its proper course.”

The poet laureate, who is appointed for life, is responsible for producing verse to mark events of national significance. Motion was appointed laureate in 1999 upon the death of Ted Hughes.

The wedding poem, entitled Spring Wedding, reads:

I took your news outdoors, and strolled a while
In silence on my square of garden-ground
Where I could dim the roar of arguments,
Ignore the scandal-flywheel whirring round,

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And hear instead the green fuse in the flower
Ignite, the breeze stretch out a shadow-hand
To ruffle blossom on its sticking points,
The blackbirds sing, and singing take their stand.

I took your news outdoors, and found the Spring
Had honored all its promises to start
Disclosing how the principles of earth
Can make a common purpose with the heart.

The heart which slips and sidles like a stream
Weighed down by winter-wreckage near its source -
But given time, and come the clearing rain,
Breaks loose to revel in its proper course.

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