Professor Rustum Roy, of Penn State University, a man few will get to meet in their lifetime.
A cirrus cloud drifts by,
its shade descends to settle
on the treetops high,
as silence spawns a hushed tranquillity,
the forest needs to know,
when sadness rules the day.
One of the greatest has,
a tired smile poised on his lips
gone to the laboratory in the sky,
to join all those who went
before him; few could reach
the pedestal he was perched beneath,
a handful listened, paused
within their daily lives to think,
to contemplate the wisdom
in those words that they could feel.
Rustum, you touched me,
and you reached so many minds,
the seeds of wisdom sown
back all those years ago;
to some it would have felt
like the Great Emperor's own sword,
bestowing subtlety, and sweet noblesse,
anointing in your earnest way,
it changed, it nurtured and it stayed,
the spirit of it keeping company
with gravid words inside our hemispheres,
you were a man endowed with much,
yet selflessly you gave,
mankind was deemed to see beyond,
to follow your sharp eyes to the horizon's edge,
little reward was ample pay for you.
Some booed, some hissed and pouted,
off with your head they shouted,
in truth it was sheer envy turned to hate,
you never could attract indifference.
Noble describes you, incompletely,
formidable your mind, helping your hands,
kindness was you, and you were always there,
I shall not overstate the simple truth,
your time was short in measure yet you gave,
as a small gesture of necessity.
Yet you were born to use your mind,
entire armies of those clever cells were there,
to be commanded for the benefit of all.
And like the general who leads his troops,
you marched while listening to a drummer of your own.
And what a pleasure to the lucky ones who knew
the man called Rustum Roy, the brilliance that was you.
in truth it was sheer envy turned to hate, you never could attract indifference. .. nicely worded poem . i liked