I was reminded, in this the year of The Queen’s eightieth birthday, and in the the fifty fifth year of Her Majesty’s reign, that the links between The Queen and the people are the sense of understanding, and above all the trust that flows between us.
John Brett, from our very active Toowoomba Branch drew my attention to a poem by Rudyard Kipling which so superbly expresses these links:
TOGETHER
When King and people understand each other past a doubt,
It takes a foe and more than a foe to knock that country out;
For one will do what the other requires as soon as the need is shown;
And hand in hand they can make a stand which neither could make alone!
It is not wealth, nor talk, nor trade, nor schools, or even the vote,
Will save your land when the enemy’s hand is tightening round your throat.
But a King and a people who thoroughly trust each other in all that is done
Can sleep on their bed without any dread – for the world will leave ‘em alone!
Rudyard Kipling. 1885 – 1936