Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
MADELEINE IN THE MIDDLE
By P B Taylor
I
Madeline, your name is such a songful word
Plus, that smell of best cologne
So unusual as a winter red rose
When golden lights over flatter you
Then fading to a cold grey
Evening dies and our shared love departs
II
Forever it goes as leaves
Seethe in a wind flown away
As another sinking sun
Drowns in faded pinkish clouds
To bend lie flat and stagnant
Partially squeezed and squinting alone
III
Bare twigs dive from your naked tree
Fall as love serenely down to ground
Dead now as our love like water lilies
Lying calm to top the surface
Amersham Summer 1973
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.
MADELEINE IN THE MIDDLE
By P B Taylor
I
Madeline, your name is such a songful word
Plus, that smell of best cologne
So unusual as a winter red rose
When golden lights over flatter you
Then fading to a cold grey
Evening dies and our shared love departs
II
Forever it goes as leaves
Seethe in a wind flown away
As another sinking sun
Drowns in faded pinkish clouds
To bend lie flat and stagnant
Partially squeezed and squinting alone
III
Bare twigs dive from your naked tree
Fall as love serenely down to ground
Dead now as our love like water lilies
Lying calm to top the surface
Amersham Summer 1973
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.
