Podcast 140 - Thoughts on Queen Elizabeth II

Text for students studying B1 level English

Poem of Abou Ben Adhem starts at 11:32

B1 - Abou Ben Adhem

After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, I wanted to write a few lines about what she meant to me and to so many other people from the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. This is a B1 and B2 level podcast and there's a short poem at the end. Here we go...

Many, many years ago, when I was at primary school, we had a headmaster called Mr Dipper. The headmaster is a man who runs the school and is in charge of all the other teachers. Looking back, I suppose I can say that not many of the children in that school liked Mr Dipper. Why? Well, he was a very strict man and if we were bad, we would get punished. On the other hand, there was something about Mr Dipper that I did like. Occasionally, he would come to our English class and read poetry to us. It’s true that most children probably don’t appreciate poetry very much. However, the poems he read to us were very entertaining. That means, they were enjoyable, fun and interesting.

One poem I remember perhaps wasn’t a fun poem but I found it very interesting. It was called Abou Ben Adhem. I was only 10 years old at the time but I remember the message of the poem impressed me.

This poem with its message came back to me recently while watching Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on television. I felt, as many people in Britain and around the world felt, very sad when I heard the news that the queen had died.

‘So you’re a monarchist, are you?’ some people asked me. I answered that I didn’t consider myself a monarchist or a republican. I didn’t like the queen of England because of any political feelings. I liked the queen because of the person she was.

Queen Elizabeth II had always been there in our lives in the UK. We watched her on television during her various events and ceremonies. We danced in the streets to celebrate her jubilees. We watched her on television during her visits abroad and the times spent with her family.

We listened to her speeches at different times of the year. At Christmas we would stop whatever it was we were doing to listen to The Queen’s Speech. She used to speak about the positive and negative things that had happened that year, the challenges we had faced, the successes we had achieved, the pain that many people suffer, their loneliness - even at Christmas or especially at Christmas. But she would also talk about the hopes for the New Year, she would talk about optimism and new challenges and how we were all able to meet them.

The older people of my family particularly loved the queen and the royal family. They remembered the royal family’s role during the Second World War and how important the royal family was in bringing the country together during very difficult times. I remember looking at my grandmother during a Christmas speech by the queen. I saw how tears came to her eyes.

On Elizabeth’s twenty-first birthday, she made a radio broadcast to the world. She was not yet queen but knew that one day soon she would be. In the speech the queen said the following words:

‘I welcome the opportunity to speak to all the peoples of the British Commonwealth and Empire, wherever they live, whatever race they come from, and whatever language they speak.’

Then later in the speech she said:

‘I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service.’

When Elizabeth made that speech, she was in South Africa, and she said:

‘As I speak to you today from Cape Town I am six thousand miles from the country where I was born. But I am certainly not six thousand miles from home.’

She considered many countries, especially Commonwealth countries across the world as part of her home. Elizabeth, and later Queen Elizabeth II was very much a citizen of the world.

That is the reason why so many people liked or even loved the queen. She spent her life serving others. No, she wasn't a Teresa of Calcutta. She didn’t visit hospitals to help the patients, neither did she help poor people in the streets of third world countries. The queen's role was a diplomatic one, a bridge of understanding and respect to promote good relations between countries.

Interestingly, Queen Elizabeth was also the head of the Church of England, so she was a Christian. Yet, when we think of her, we rarely saw her in this role. We saw her as an ambassador, a visitor to many countries, a host to many more from abroad whatever their religion, race or colour. An ambassador of friendship. Someone who cared for and served the people. Above everything else, people were most important to her.

So now I come to the poem of Abou Ben Adhem. A poem read to us all those years ago by our primary school headmaster. You’ll hear that it has nothing to do with Queen Elizabeth, in fact, it has nothing to do with kings or queens at all. However, it talks about a leader and his love of the people who followed him. It was written by an English poet called Leigh Hunt, who lived between the years of 1784 and 1859 and the Abou Ben Adhem poem was his favourite. A line from it was written on his tombstone - the stone that stands on a person’s grave. The line that was written on his tombstone was:

‘Write me down as one that loves his fellow men.’

I have re-written this poem for B1 English but I wanted to also include some of the original words because they are so important. Here are some of the words that perhaps need an explanation for B1 or B2 students.

- peace n. - state of being quiet, still and calm

- angel n. - a spirit said to be a messenger for God. Angels are often shown dressed in white with wings.

- raise v. - to lift up.

- cheerful adj. feeling happy

- brilliant adj. very bright (light)

- tribe B2 n. a small group of people of the same race, customs and language - usually referring to developing countries.

- moonlight B2 n. the light made by the moon.

- bold B2 adj. brave, not afraid to take risks.

- in bloom C2 referring to the when flowers open their petals.

- fellow man C2 n. the people around you, other members of the human race.

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