By Charles E. Tomlinson- Private forester - From his stump.
5/16/99
In Memory of a very dear friend

It is hard work to build a soul
And being unseen makes a harder goal.
To fight the battles, think the thoughts,
Make the links and squelch the oughts,
To forge the steel that makes it strong
And quit the structural part that's wrong,
To mold it strictly and check every brick
To create mortar that will always stick,
To put it together in a structure sublime
That few can see and fewer can climb.
These make the task extremely tough,
But the soul you are building is enough,
To make the strain and pain of it all,
The yearning for a mirror, even small,
Pass to the trivial, the not so central
For the soul for others is incidental.
You build it strong and send it to the blue,
For you know that you will live there too.