For Gordon 1930 - 2005 Poem by Tony Jennett

The sea loved him
Loved him for the sturdy ship
He gave for her to enjoy
Culled by his hand from a strip
Of larch; eager for his employ;
In a remote ravine somewhere in Wales

The timber loved him
And bent to his will and skill
With adze and plane. steam
And copper clench, wanting still
To grow anew to strake and beam
Re-incarnate copse of heart's desire

His students loved him
Welcomed the contagion from his hands
Into their minds' eye so their wood
Or steel or silver broke the chrysalis bands
And butterflied in a glorifying flood.
True discipline of true disciples

And we all loved him
For his wit and wisdom, strength and
Un-fly-hurting tolerance, boyish elation;
Scratched into time's immutable sand.
His goal in life was ever pure creation
And God can now embrace a fellow creator