Ode to Richard Schafer, D.C.

December 26, 1999, 6:13 PM.

Dear Colleagues [chirosci-list@silcom.com],

    Though I know this list has other intentions, I wanted to publicly acknowledge Richard Schafer's contributions to our profession with this brief effort. I hope this small work will help him through his difficulties and, at the same time, let him know how high he is in our esteem.

    Thank you, Richard.



Ode to Richard Schafer

Have reverence today for what has come before,
For anxious mortality awaits as grim host,
And fleetingly do we all arrive at her gilt door,
Yet being her guests grants us little to boast.

In sojourns great and small we go where we must,
Even roads less trod come to that sole junction,
And the journey through life arrives at but dust,
For death's assets are great and win time's auction.

It matters not that we are born and thence depart,
As these common haps are rough acts inevitable,
'Tis the estate which we build from life's breathing start,
That makes our brief stay all but regrettable.

In this our friend Richard's wealth even th'unworthy will merit,
The knowledge he has gleaned and given so freely,
'Tis more than a commoner could imagine to inherit,
Yet still placed thus before us quite so ungreedily.

Multiply our experience by that which was his own,
And understand that we are bettered by this sage,
For many were the seeds that this doctor has sown,
Sprouting forth roots from his every written page.

A richness from his mind stained darkly in black ink,
Oh, nowhere else may a man's life shine as bright,
As wisdom is a foreigner to those who'll not think,
He will part from us in darkness, yet leave us his light.

----Dr. Thomas V. Giordano
LECCE, Italia

Click below link for
Watercolor portrait of Dr. Richard C. Schafer by Kay Orr, 1985.

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