A poem based on the Commonwealth Charter

Illustration by Caleb L. Viljoen

Aerial roots drop from branch to soil,
each trunk a nation in shared toil.
The Charter’s wisdom, like leaves in light,
shelters all under one shared height.

Once epiphyte clinging to hosts of old,
now freed since London’s decree bold.
From strangler fig to nations free,
in symbiotic unity we see.

Singapore’s pledge and Harare’s voice,
Perth’s food pact gave more a choice.
Like wasps and flowers in secret trade,
our bonds form patterns, strong and made.

Uncommon Banyan with roots grown thick,
from sprout to giant, steady and quick.
Kingdoms, republics—fruits of one tree,
under one canopy, standing free.

From old Empire’s seed to this fresh wood,
consensus, not force, serves our global good.
So gather beneath this living sign,
where uncommon banyans across seas entwine.

UNCOMMON BANYAN PART II: THE TENDER’S CALL

An acceptance speech in verse upon appointment as inaugural Commonwealth Poet Laureate. Delivered at Marlborough House, June 2025

Here beneath these London eaves,
where Empire’s edicts once dried,
I stand—a Pasifika Poet-Scholar
with ocean-wide words,
salt-stained syllables that carry
wave-weight from Apia to Antigua.

What tree grows fifty-six nations strong?
What canopy spans half the globe’s song?
Only this Uncommon Banyan—
born from colonial trauma’s seed,
violence that became our need
to grow beyond the strangler’s grip,
transform that toxic kinship
into voluntary creed.

You have called me to tend
this Uncommon Banyan—
inaugural poet, verse-weaver,
one whose touch turns tough bark
to breathing space, whose art
breaks apart the hardest hearts
with rhythm’s grace.
I tend through verse,
through lines that nurse
the tender shoots of change.

Watch: how poetry becomes the bee
that pollinates from Perth to Port of Spain,
secret commerce flying heart to brain,
carrying stories in its honey-hold,
dusting blooms with what if
till hearts tight-closed unfold.

From sankofa, from talanoa—
that sweet art of time-taking and timing,
letting conversation’s vine climb
like verse up through the soul.
Poetry nurtures the va—
adorns it, makes it whole.

See how broken coral
builds the strongest reef?
How hurricane-bent palms
spring back past grief?
Commonwealth, we are coral people,
storm-tested, rooted deep—
resilient in our breaking,
beautiful in our keep.

Let poetry weave the network—
mycorrhizal threads of care
sharing wonder’s nutrients
through this forest we all share.
Let us tend ourselves more tenderly,
art teaching us to see
the grace within our breaking,
the beauty in our making.

From grandmothers’ weaving in Suva and Lagos
to Cardiff’s choirs, from Accra’s wisdom-flow,
fingers still remember
what borders choose to dismember:
we are children of the same salt sea,
descendants of that first mother
who looked up, looked through
and made the first poem of me, of you.

Art heals by telling truth aslant—
Emily’s gift still breathing
in spaces between our speaking.
When I write aroha, Kerala hearts hear sneha,
when voices sing ubuntu, souls feel taufa’iga.
Curiosity conquers not by force
but through recognition’s sweet course.

So let us plant new verses
in shadows of this uncommon banyan,
let us face the wicked problems—
climate’s shift, injustice deep,
the systemic wounds we keep—
teach the Banyan to bloom
in tongues it’s never known,
fruit flavours of justice grown,
belonging, home.

Poetry is the aerial root of nations,
the bee-flight between civilisations,
the coral-building of imagination,
the tender’s tool for transformation.

Today I accept this living trust—
to be your voice in verse,
your inaugural Poet Laureate
of fifty-six nations diverse.
From Commonwealth’s heart I’ll sing
the songs that bind and bless,
tend this Banyan’s breathing
with words that heal, enrich.

Fa’afetai. Vinaka. Thank you.
The tending begins.

GLOSSARY AND NOTES

Accra’s wisdom-flow: Reference to Ghana’s capital, acknowledging African leadership in the Commonwealth and the new Secretary-General.

Aerial roots: Roots growing from banyan branches to form new trunks, like Commonwealth nations developing while maintaining connections.

Aroha: Māori/Polynesian concept of love, compassion, empathy.

Banyan tree: A fig tree with multiple trunks from prop roots, spreading outward like the Commonwealth’s expansion.

British spelling: Changed “flavours,” “civilisations” to British spelling throughout.

Colonial trauma’s seed: The poem acknowledges that the Commonwealth emerged from the shared experience of colonialism—trauma that paradoxically brought these nations together and created bonds that outlasted Empire.

Epiphyte: A plant growing on another; young banyans start on host trees, as Commonwealth nations began under colonial rule.

Fifty-six nations: The current number of Commonwealth member countries.

Fig wasps: Insects living mutually with fig trees; symbolizing cooperation between Commonwealth nations.

Harare Declaration: A 1991 agreement focusing on democracy and rights.

Honey-hold: Wordplay on “hold” (cargo hold) and the bee’s honey storage, where stories are preserved and shared.

Inaugural poet, verse-weaver: Recognition of the historic appointment as the first Commonwealth Poet Laureate, emphasising the craft of poetry.

London’s decree: The London Declaration of 1949 establishing the modern Commonwealth.

Mycorrhizal network: Scientific term for underground fungal networks that connect tree roots, allowing them to share nutrients and communicate—metaphor for Commonwealth connections.

Perth to Port of Spain: Geographical span from Western Australia to Trinidad and Tobago, representing the Commonwealth’s reach from Pacific to Caribbean, continent to islands, showing poetry’s pollination across vast distances and diverse scales of nations.

Perth’s food pact: A 2011 Commonwealth agreement on food security.

Poetry becomes the bee: Emphasises poetry specifically (not just art) as the pollinating force between nations. This continues the bee metaphor from the poet’s earlier work ‘Unity’, performed at Commonwealth Observance Day, Westminster Abbey in 2016, creating a thread of connection through her Commonwealth poetry.

Poetry is the aerial root of nations: Final stanza that explicitly celebrates poetry’s power as connector, pollinator, builder, and transformer – the four key metaphors of the poem unified.

Poetry nurtures the va: Positioning poetry as a practice that tends the sacred space between cultures, making it more inclusive and equitable.

Sankofa: Akan/Ghanaian concept meaning “to go back and fetch what you forgot” – learning from the past to build a better future. Often symbolised by a bird looking backward while moving forward.

Singapore Declaration: The 1971 document establishing Commonwealth principles.

Sneha: Sanskrit/Hindi word for love, affection, friendship.

Strangler fig: Young banyans that can envelop their host tree, representing the former colonial relationship.

Strangler’s grip/toxic relationship: References both the botanical reality of young banyan trees that can strangle their host, and the colonial relationship that has been transformed into voluntary association.

Suva: Capital of Fiji.

Symbiotic: A relationship of mutual benefit, as in the Commonwealth’s cooperative structure.

Talanoa: Tongan practice of inclusive, open-ended conversation that builds relationships and understanding across differences.

Taufa’iga: Samoan concept of kinship, family connection, mutual support.

Tender: One who tends/cares for something, emphasizing the nurturing role of the poet.

Truth aslant: Reference to Emily Dickinson’s famous line “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.”

Ubuntu: Southern African philosophy meaning “I am because we are”—fundamental interconnectedness of humanity.

Uncommon Banyan: The poet’s extended metaphor for the Commonwealth—a unique tree that grows as one organism with multiple trunks connected by aerial roots, representing how formerly colonized nations remain connected through shared history, language, and values while maintaining independence.

Va: Sacred Samoan concept of the relational space between people, cultures, or entities that must be nurtured and kept beautiful through respectful interaction.

Vinaka: Fijian word for “thank you.”

Voluntary kinship’s creed: The Commonwealth’s transformation from empire to voluntary association based on shared values and mutual respect.

Wicked problems: Term from policy studies for complex, systemic problems with no simple solutions—like climate change, inequality, and injustice—that require sustained, collaborative approaches.