The sun sent out its silent rays

To pierce the West Moor gloom

Where tireless hands worked round the clock

In a single lonely room

A mind sparked and a mighty shadow

Touched the Great Lime Road

To stretch along the eternal path

On which history’s dreamers strode

Spinning cogs and whirring gears

Turned that wondrous mind

To speed-filled dreams where water steams

Through the mighty hands of time

Those hands were soon put to the task

Of burying a wife and child

But if the cottage lacked a woman’s touch

That mind was not beguiled

With the pain of loss weighing heavy

The hands toiled harder still

The one-roomed house became a 4-roomed home

While the mind refused to still

Spinning cogs and whirring gears

Turned that wondrous mind

To speed-filled dreams where water steams

Through the splintering cracks of time 

He took his son’s hands in his own

To birth a new sundial

On a block of wood the gnomon stood

Beneath a sun’s bright smile

Over a plaque to remind the world

From the cottage’s stone wall

What those hands and mind achieved and gave

For the benefit of all

Spinning cogs and whirring gears

Turned that wondrous mind

To speed-filled dreams where water steams

Through the drifting sands of time

Ambitious goals stirred and reeled

And spurred that glorious mind

To steam-fuelled schemes where invention streams

Throughout all space and time

(Gary Miller)

© 2017 Whippet Records

Copyright Control MCPS/PRS

Gary was commissioned by Northern Voices Community Projects to write 'Hands and Mind' for 'Follow The Sun', a book published to mark the bicentenary of the Stephen's sundial at Dial Cottage in Killingworth.