Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
OLD KING COAL
By P B Taylor
I
The north was poised for a triumphant success
They claimed and we heard “tired” the seams ran out
The back streets were red with fear
The black darkness had now gone
Before their very horrid swollen eyes
Built up with a new fear- responsibility
You can’t say this, they said, we did they lost
We tried, they tried, we still are amid the pneumoconiosis
II
A peacock came to fly past our nest
Looking for rest and for peace
He didn’t find it- killed him, and his looks
There will be another surely
Even in this time and space
Oh, remember me with that untidy donkey-jacket
Feeling pursued with my mind asleep
Glaring agnostic from the bowels
As my sleep invaded the peace
III
The capital you have, and you own
But for the rest just forget it
Those rocks of life die quite young
As their futures mould so slowly
Forgiving not the hopelessness of it
But the relentlessness of a vein success
IV
The bottom bit is round and firm
Like a peach but not so red
And it seemed to serve our purpose
Digging which most have lost
Proud instinct so high on its table
Belies the truth found deep below
The beginning is nothing but a mere slap
And the end sticks our runs for miles
To impress us, I suppose, when it all ran out.
Harrogate. Spring 1974
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.
OLD KING COAL
By P B Taylor
I
The north was poised for a triumphant success
They claimed and we heard “tired” the seams ran out
The back streets were red with fear
The black darkness had now gone
Before their very horrid swollen eyes
Built up with a new fear- responsibility
You can’t say this, they said, we did they lost
We tried, they tried, we still are amid the pneumoconiosis
II
A peacock came to fly past our nest
Looking for rest and for peace
He didn’t find it- killed him, and his looks
There will be another surely
Even in this time and space
Oh, remember me with that untidy donkey-jacket
Feeling pursued with my mind asleep
Glaring agnostic from the bowels
As my sleep invaded the peace
III
The capital you have, and you own
But for the rest just forget it
Those rocks of life die quite young
As their futures mould so slowly
Forgiving not the hopelessness of it
But the relentlessness of a vein success
IV
The bottom bit is round and firm
Like a peach but not so red
And it seemed to serve our purpose
Digging which most have lost
Proud instinct so high on its table
Belies the truth found deep below
The beginning is nothing but a mere slap
And the end sticks our runs for miles
To impress us, I suppose, when it all ran out.
Harrogate. Spring 1974
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.
