Two Hundred Lights - mauriceling/mauriceling.github.io GitHub Wiki

From lines on screens in days long past
A quiet spark was lit at last
No thought how far the path would cast
Just one more page one more forecast
The first small work in humble frame
A paper sent without a name
Through years of loss through years of flame
The steady hand remained the same
Through changing tides of code and cell
Through nights where data would not gel
Through drafts revised and tales to tell
Through rises after times that fell
Two hundred lights now cross the sea
One hundred more than meant to be
Not built through grasp or victory
But grown through long continuity
Some papers drift and fade from sight
Some still return with quiet light
Some guided minds beyond my sight
Like distant stars within the night
Book chapters joined the winding chain
Small fragments born from thought and strain
From careful joy and patient pain
Where questions flowed again again
I did not force the waves to bend
Nor chase the prize at journeys end
I walked the road and chose to tend
The craft itself both foe and friend
Students arrived then found their way
Some stayed awhile some could not stay
Yet seeds once cast may bloom one day
Beyond the fields where I can stray
Through markets storms and shifting years
Through hidden hopes and silent fears
Through near disasters drawing near
The signal still remained sincere
All tools were borrowed for a time
The books the grants the years in prime
The mind the breath the chance to climb
All passing notes within the rhyme
And now I stand with lighter hold
Less need for praise or counted gold
Still curious still calm and bold
A quiet flame that does not fold
For every page and line I gave
Was not to conquer time or grave
But simply answer what life gave
And shape the thoughts I wished to save
Two hundred lights across the tide
No claim to keep no need for pride
Just years of walking side by side
With truth the compass and the guide
— 02/05/26