His knowing hands
could hit nails
and lay bricks exactly right
and with his eyes,
he could draw and measure lines
and know exactly
how the plans wanted things.
Developer and businessman
and the best handyman was he
and he took an oath,
that his children
would get higher education.
Wood turned into beautiful objects
under his hands
and tables and chairs
was shaped magically.
He constructed a church without charge
and houses without number,
but a door fell
with a thundering crash
and in his body
some veins were cut
and the medical science
was still too primitive
to help and rescue
a man bleeding internally.
Still his works
exists in places
and one lesson still stays with me,
to do the best
with every thing
on which you lay your hands
and that nothing is too large
to dream about
or to accomplish.
Gert Strydom
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-handyman-2/