CAP’N MARK

This evening, at Waterworks Park
As day moves to dusk and then dark

In sweet summer weather
We gather together

To wish happy birthday to Mark

This man is a green-tinted spark
Tracing an emerald arc

Our Cap’n Courageous,
He’ll enthuse and engage us

On this journey on which we embark

He’s our Campus Sustainability Coordinator
Our Get-Everybody-On-Boardinator

Our Forward-March-Retrofitter
Our Move-Ahead-Never-Quitter

Our Cut-Costs-We-Cannot-Affordinator

With Mark at the head of the crew
The vision is now in clear view

A campus sustainable?
The goal’s quite attainable —

Mark is our Mr. Can-Do

Mark Stimson has rolled up his sleeves —
And look at the future he weaves!

Mark has ambitions
Of reducing emissions

And those are the goals he achieves

Here is Mark’s plan in its essence:
Pull out those unsightly fluorescents

Earth, sun, and air
Offer power to spare —

So let us tap into these presents

Uncertainties? Heaven forbid!
Doubts from your mind you can rid

Mark has a plan
For this campus — and man,

We are taking it off of the grid!

There’s little that Mark doesn’t know
Ask questions — the answers just flow

Technical, wise,
With a grin in those eyes

Need answers? Mark’s where you go

And Mark is a painter of boats
What appears from the time he devotes?

Works with a light
Ethereal, bright

His canvases — each of them floats

And Mark’s a musician to boot
Plays jigs on an old German flute

Penny whistle and fiddle
Bagpipe at his middle —

We give him a tuneful salute

Every July Twenty-Two
Mark, may we gather with you

And grow ever greener,
And clearer, and keener,

And brighter — through, through, and through

Happy birthday, Mark!
JULY 22, 2008