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Brian Taylor has been a Poet and Philosopher in Cornwall, England and the Far East.
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Category Archives: Oxford Blues
REMEMBRANCE MONDAY
Remembranceis invalidunlessit goes right back to the beginning. Cats know thisand complete their lives in the present. Humans don’twhich makes their workincompleteand invalid;a building lacking its foundation. .
Posted in Oxford Blues
Tagged beginning, building, cats, Foundation, Humans, present, Remembrance Monday, work
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REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY
November RosePink and white and mauve.Solitary, still,among the rosemary and late autumnal gorse. Sea winds have blown.The first frosts have frozen the short grass.Spring and summer are memories,midwinter an echo in reverse. November Rose for the dying.November Poppies for the … Continue reading
Posted in Oxford Blues
Tagged autumnal gorse, dead, first frosts, Flanders, midwinter, new birth, November Poppies, November Rose, Remembrance Sunday, Rosemary
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MAGDALEN
In the Fellows’ Gardens,past the Deer Park,a willow twists and stretchesout of a brown poollike a giant Nāgatrailing garlands of green lace. Along the avenues of Addison’s Walk,among birch and beech,chestnuts stretch out their brancheslike semaphores,and hang their leaves like … Continue reading
Posted in Oxford Blues
Tagged Academics, beech, birch, chestnuts, Deer Park, living, Magdalen, Michaelmas, Odysseus, Oxford, Oxford University, World's End
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UPWARDLY MOBILE CAT
The cat sitsin the Provost’s chair! Wisdom,being devoidof Right Understanding,has become Worldly Savoir-Faire. (poem from OXFORD BLUES) .
Posted in Oxford Blues
Tagged cat, moblie, Oxford Blues, savoir-faire, understanding, wisdom, worldly
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WAITING
Magdalen’s groundsare full of life,full of space. Space, which is mownand cleared,tended and enclosed,its waterways unchoked,brown and sparkling clear. It is home to ducksand coots,to dragonflies and deer. Grass and paths and gatesand streamsand yesterday’s undergraduatesare waiting. Not for the … Continue reading
Posted in Oxford Blues
Tagged being, dragonflies, ducks, future, Magdalen, Oxford, Oxford Blues, past, peace, space, undergradutes, waiting, waterways, Yes!
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AREOPAGITICA
The Vice Chancellor is leaving!And the mourners go about the streets,throwing their mortar boards in the airand waving their gownslike bullfighters’ capes. In the Vivisection Laboratory,the faintest of grey lightsslants through the bars of cageswhere animals waitto be scientifically torturedfor … Continue reading
Posted in Oxford Blues
Tagged Chancellor, God, laboratory, makind, Oxford, Oxford Blues, scientifically tortured, Vice, vivisection
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TRUTH IN THE BOTANIC GARDENS
Thousands of magnolia flowers,by Danby’s gateand yellowstone walls,test vernal powersagainst the winds of March; and wait. Slowly, blossoms fall,like heavy snowflakes, one by one,lit by a dull and clouded sun. Tourists have gathered here to seethe wonder of this snow-blossom … Continue reading
Posted in Oxford Blues
Tagged blossoms, Botanic Gardens, harvest, inner eye, magnolia, Oxford, photography, snow-blossom, snowflakes, tourists, winds of March
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T.S. ELIOT AT 4.00 PM
Ten thousand pieces on the floorreconstruct his own jigsaw,each one shaped at the five sense doorsto compose the picture he is looking for.Achensee with snowflakes?Earl Grey tea and cakes? He cannot hide.He cannot escape into the seascape’s swell,nor is the … Continue reading
POST IMPERIAL BLUES
A terrorist gets his way by violence. Like Alexander,he would prefer a city to surrender peacefully.Like Alexander,he will destroy it if it doesn’tand enslave its population. A successful terrorist,like a successful leopard,does not change his spots. A pugilist can break … Continue reading
Posted in Oxford Blues
Tagged Alexander, Congo, don, footprints, leopard, lions, massacre, Nigeria, Oxford, post imperial, poverty, Rwanda, statistics, student, terrorist
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GUESTS
Who are the deadI have not reached(or been unable to find)who wait with such patiencein quiet corners of my mind? Seek with the mindyou get thoughts.Seek with the heartyou get understanding.Speak with thoughtsyou reach a man’s mind.Speak with understandingyou reach … Continue reading
Posted in Oxford Blues
Tagged dead, guests, heart, mind, patience, quiet corners, seek, thoughts, understanding
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