He walked the corridors of Gilstead,

Yet he filled the spaces of our spiritual homestead;

Clutching his black Bible high up and close to his heart,

He was sure footed and simple smart.

He looked his pupil in the pupil,

Yet not dismissing the disciple like some people;

He was a man of small stature,

But seemed a giant, a godly creature.

He smiled, just a measured little,

Enough to tell that you are not a mere tittle;

He evoked awe and reverent fear,

All froze in mid sentence in silence to seer.

A man not known for many words,

Yet he spoke in volumes in many goodly works;

A simple man, looking like a caretaker than a principal and pastor,

Pomp and pride was never his character.

Like his Master once mistook for a gardener,

He too paced the place in like manner;

He came to lecture just his Bible and his mind,

All his notes embedded somewhere in this godly kind.

Words unknown spilled and thrilled,

Learning English with theology our minds were filled;

His voice vivid and clear still ringing in ear,

Though time has passed year after year.

Time has passed yet he speaketh,

His voice still heard, his life still meaneth;

Many have gone near and far with his fire,

In heavenly desire and die to retire.

To have known him and to have caught him,

Is to be his kith and kin humming a grateful hymn;

In praise to God for a servant true and right,

A model to follow for dill and the bright.

Now laid to rest after doing his humanly best,

His work goes on with the faithful rest;

His life lives on with his children not his born,

Father of many, still true but few, with some gone.

His memory soon forgotten,

But a stone in a building block, a token;

As is the case with those passed into glory,

A mere passing reference not knowing the full story.

But he will be known as he walks the heaven’s garden,

Meeting and greeting myriad saints the pardoned;

His grave may settle but we will remember,

Till the day in body we soon will slumber.

God forbid the praise of a man, yea, even our own,

But he was a man in whom Christ was known;

His name is Timothy Tow,

To many of us, just Reverend Tow.

So till we meet again, dear teacher,

Rest in Peace, sir!