Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A CHRISTMAS TREE
By P B Taylor
I watched the baubles as they bounced
Around our green and shimmering tree
Those spurs and prongs proudly balanced
With the children allowed to be free
For once and only once alone a year
We waited in our room for him
“I think I hear his bells” we fear
Then he comes and the repetition dims
It’s dying now so no more dressing
But I love the yearning, lovely feeling
It’s dead now but like the ever living
We feel as the child feels loving
The scare, the hurt has gone at last
To watch their peace at Christmas, free as the past
For Pete. When we were children. 1980
Phillip Taylor MBE was born in Amersham and educated at London University and the Inns of Court School of Law. His working life was spent, firstly at the BBC in London, in the Ministry of Defence and the Army, and then as a barrister at law and mediator at Lincoln’s Inn after he was called to the Bar.
He was Chairman of the Society of Civil Service Authors Poetry Workshop from 1982 to 1986 and contributed to their annual anthology FOCUS. His poems and short stories have appeared in journals, magazines and newsletters and some have been broadcast by the BBC. He has produced several poetry collections since 1972.
The Poetry Workshop was founded by Bill Barnes in 1970. It was a part of the Society of Civil Service Authors (founded in 1935) which now known as the Society of Civil and Public Service Writers.
A CHRISTMAS TREE
By P B Taylor
I watched the baubles as they bounced
Around our green and shimmering tree
Those spurs and prongs proudly balanced
With the children allowed to be free
For once and only once alone a year
We waited in our room for him
“I think I hear his bells” we fear
Then he comes and the repetition dims
It’s dying now so no more dressing
But I love the yearning, lovely feeling
It’s dead now but like the ever living
We feel as the child feels loving
The scare, the hurt has gone at last
To watch their peace at Christmas, free as the past
For Pete. When we were children. 1980
Phillip Taylor MBE was born in Amersham and educated at London University and the Inns of Court School of Law. His working life was spent, firstly at the BBC in London, in the Ministry of Defence and the Army, and then as a barrister at law and mediator at Lincoln’s Inn after he was called to the Bar.
He was Chairman of the Society of Civil Service Authors Poetry Workshop from 1982 to 1986 and contributed to their annual anthology FOCUS. His poems and short stories have appeared in journals, magazines and newsletters and some have been broadcast by the BBC. He has produced several poetry collections since 1972.
The Poetry Workshop was founded by Bill Barnes in 1970. It was a part of the Society of Civil Service Authors (founded in 1935) which now known as the Society of Civil and Public Service Writers.
