Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
THE GUARDIAN OF FOREVER
By P B Taylor
I
At first it was merely an idea!
Never a love relationship
Those times we spent together
Were necessarily so short
Never forgotten sweet memories
Of you, us, our quiet clique
Your pretty, sad, face always
Flowed with wishful thought
II
Our slight, limited affair, like shade
Swirling in a deep valley – bottomless
Always misleading forever unreal
Life would not be the same
When we left your own time
It seemed to float round in restless
Routed boredom: I always longed for that day
When, if, I would see you once again
III
We walked, linked through hands
Fake feeling no real care
Thick leaves, often bright as a baize
Swing mindful in a light breeze
That winter wind strongly streamed
All inside, a guardian eaten bare
As if fully unburdened, to cling
Lovingly to insolent clustered trees
As I to you on those lonely last days
We both needed a faded friend
To remind me – three years ago we met
Now there is never no end forever
Amersham. August 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.
THE GUARDIAN OF FOREVER
By P B Taylor
I
At first it was merely an idea!
Never a love relationship
Those times we spent together
Were necessarily so short
Never forgotten sweet memories
Of you, us, our quiet clique
Your pretty, sad, face always
Flowed with wishful thought
II
Our slight, limited affair, like shade
Swirling in a deep valley – bottomless
Always misleading forever unreal
Life would not be the same
When we left your own time
It seemed to float round in restless
Routed boredom: I always longed for that day
When, if, I would see you once again
III
We walked, linked through hands
Fake feeling no real care
Thick leaves, often bright as a baize
Swing mindful in a light breeze
That winter wind strongly streamed
All inside, a guardian eaten bare
As if fully unburdened, to cling
Lovingly to insolent clustered trees
As I to you on those lonely last days
We both needed a faded friend
To remind me – three years ago we met
Now there is never no end forever
Amersham. August 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.
