(An RAF officer helps to carry the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales, to the plane for return to England.) <br /> <br />The burden I bear is more heavy than lead. <br />The physical weight is a thing that I share, <br />but the loss that I feel will not leave my head. <br />Why did you have to die? Why is death so unfair? <br /> <br />I am close to you now. Yes, touching my hair <br />the flag with its lions of gold and of red <br />that wraps round your coffin. I know you are there. <br />The burden I bear is more heavy than lead. <br /> <br />My comrades move with me in slow, solemn tread. <br />Our eyes are all fixed in an unseeing stare. <br />Our shoulders support you in your oaken bed. <br />The physical weight is a thing that I share. <br /> <br />As I feel the world watching I try not to care. <br />My deepest emotions are best left unsaid. <br />Let others show grief like a garment they wear, <br />but the loss that I feel will not leave my head. <br /> <br />The flowers they leave like a carpet are spread, <br />In the books of remembrance they have written, 'Somewhere <br />a star is extinguished because you are dead. <br />Why did you have to die? Why is death so unfair? ' <br /> <br />The tears that we weep will soon grow more rare, <br />the rawness of grief turn to memory instead. <br />But deep in our hearts you will always be there, <br />and I ask, will I ever be able to shed <br />the burden I bear?<br /><br />Paul Hansford<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/guard-of-honour-rondeau-redoubl/
