by Kim Aasland (January 2022)
I wrote this poem to honor him .
I never saw him without a button up shirt
Often accompanied by a coat and tie,
A linen handkerchief in case he or anyone else
had need
And the belt buckle he designed
From the gold fillings of teeth from relatives who had passed on.
That was him: kind, thoughtful, proper but not so proper that he wasn’t unique.
You could say a rare breed
A mentor and a monument
Just passionate enough to get in trouble
Only caring for what was right
Honest always
Never disloyal
Kind of a paradox
A person with dyslexia who struggled with
addition but proved great mathematical
theorems
A man who loved children but never
had any except for me, his
stepdaughter he raised as his own
A non-materialistic man who only
bought the finest things when he did
spend
He loved math and art and dogs and family.
Most importantly, he is the man who loved my
mother for 47 years.
He was pretty firm on that.
He was the yin to her yang
And their partnership was widely admired
Inspiration for me and many.
He didn’t collect a kingdom
Instead he gave himself away to others.
Very few live with his humble
class and dignity
If ever I knew a gentleman, it was him
He was a gentle man.
Apart from Me 
What a beautiful tribute to a man who really loved you.
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