Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
ASSASSINATED
By P B Taylor
I
They didn’t hear me they went deaf
For the views I gave you
It gave you a humanity in its form
Yet you still didn’t listen as usual
II
And as usual you gave your excuses
Excuses which we couldn’t handle
You couldn’t get that act together
And then the past caught you up
III
And so, we went forever more away
The sticky sands were our memoire
So still and you did not listen
As we fell from the bloodied hooks
IV
Tranquil now we look each with despair
Upon a world no more realistic
Oxford Summer 1983
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.
ASSASSINATED
By P B Taylor
I
They didn’t hear me they went deaf
For the views I gave you
It gave you a humanity in its form
Yet you still didn’t listen as usual
II
And as usual you gave your excuses
Excuses which we couldn’t handle
You couldn’t get that act together
And then the past caught you up
III
And so, we went forever more away
The sticky sands were our memoire
So still and you did not listen
As we fell from the bloodied hooks
IV
Tranquil now we look each with despair
Upon a world no more realistic
Oxford Summer 1983
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.
