Queen Alexandra's Memorial Ode

E. Elgar

So many true princesses who have gone

Over the sea, as love or duty bade,

To share abroad, till Death a foreign throne,

Have given all things, and been ill repaid.

Hatred has followed them and bitter days.

But this most lovely woman and loved Queen

Filled all the English nation with her praise;

We gather now to keep her memory green.

Here, at this place, she often sat to mark

The tide of London life go roaring by,

The day-long multitude, the lighted dark,

The night-long wheels, the glaring in the sky.

Now here we set memorial of her stay,

That passers-by remember with a thrill:

"This lovely princess came from far away

And won our hearts, and lives within them still."