Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
SISYPHEAN GRAPES
By P B Taylor
Through the young years, and through the young years
I watched that scrumptious bunch of grapes
Trailing sorrowfully down like discarded tears
Towards the wine-dark, hazy deeps
Of the silent crime, and of the silent crime
Tottering towards the unwelcome abyss
Falling as forgotten cobwebs of another time
On smirking shadows in the slate cliffs
From the low sky, and from the low sky
My column of stars came down to dance
Still trailing around here and there
But now I could no longer dance
I could only acknowledge you and stare
My bunch of grapes had up and died
Birmingham Summer 1977
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.
SISYPHEAN GRAPES
By P B Taylor
Through the young years, and through the young years
I watched that scrumptious bunch of grapes
Trailing sorrowfully down like discarded tears
Towards the wine-dark, hazy deeps
Of the silent crime, and of the silent crime
Tottering towards the unwelcome abyss
Falling as forgotten cobwebs of another time
On smirking shadows in the slate cliffs
From the low sky, and from the low sky
My column of stars came down to dance
Still trailing around here and there
But now I could no longer dance
I could only acknowledge you and stare
My bunch of grapes had up and died
Birmingham Summer 1977
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.
