A Tribute to Professor Liu
Jonathan Cranford (former student)
September 2001
You’ve climbed the ladder
Some dreams you’ve seen shatter,
Yet you’re still climbing
Because others come true, leaving you shining.
Late nights you have stayed awake
Only for your students’ sake,
You’ve helped them when they have had problems more than a few
Even when it seemed like they didn’t want you to.
You keep climbing to see what you can find
While never looking behind,
You’ve taught classes at level seven or more
Helping each of your students’ mind to soar.
You can’t remember a day
That you left before the sun went away,
Yet when you step outside at night
There comes a feeling that you’re doing something right.
And when a lesser person laughs at you
Telling you you’re too obsessed with what you do,
You give him a friendly wink right from the start
Because a chip you are developing will help monitor his heart.
And when your loved ones say
You are leaving them all day,
To build a device for strangers who are blind
That will let them leave a life of darkness behind.
You still know you are traveling the right path
Even if you have little time for a bath,
And your world seems a jumble,
When your project begins to crumble.
The outcome is worth the fight
When you work every day and night,
For the pursuit of knowledge and the higher goal
To better the lives of every living soul.