My Friend,
With beauty in mind

your hands in clay
a sweet engagement
where embraces
coaxed against gravity
bringing forms into sight
to stand alone
and when you stepped back
beauty looked right back at you
causing that broad grin of yours
to welcome the arrival
of your newest work
made with beauty in mind

And
My Friend,
With beauty in mind

colors pooled beneath your brush
bird wings last seen
gliding above branches
in the morning
later flew across your page
in the afternoon
toward a new horizon
as you focused on the
infinite artist’s journey
while on the way
meeting all the artists
you had ever known
consulting their wisdom
over cobalt versus ultramarine
yet trusting your own instinct
to chose the unexpected
making each painting your own
with beauty in mind

And
My Friend,
With beauty in mind

a garden came to life
all around you,
an artistic landscape
shaped from your vision
where without hesitation
the ground was
weeded and cleared
and a thousand
beginnings took place
with each new year,
and you marveled at the
new life held in your hands
with never a fear
that the work was too hard.
each seed was sewn
having readied the earth
roots and blooms thrived
colors presented as gifts
opening into a world
where everything
you set into motion
stood on its own
a radiance rendered
with beauty in mind

And
My Friend,
With beauty in mind

you taught us new ways
to see the world
through imaginative leaps
and by scaling new heights
for you sparked creativity
in all who knew you
your impact lives on
within our lives too
and you showed by example
how a sense of direction
comes from an awakening to Art

By always giving of yourself
your way of being
has made this life a garden
that is all the more wonder-filled
because you have governed
With beauty in mind