O-Sensei...

 © December 7, 2020, the Griot Poet

https://www.articobits.com/obituaries/perry-j-brown-funeral-home/gilbert-casterlow-jr-obituary

His story would start in Rich Square,

On his father’s farm, he’d remember fondly,

Telling stories as he taught mathematics and karate,

 

He would meet the love of his life at A&T,

Sensei Pat would keep the club going,

As he matriculated to Penn State for his Ph.D.,

 

He taught me Calculus and karate,

He was a surrogate father on a large HBCU campus,

He smiled and laughed, but he was serious about excellence,

 

In academics and the Dojo floor,

Which literally means “place of the way,”

We heard the stories of “redness of the skin disqualification,”

Racist rules in tournament competition,

We trained for the challenges we had yet faced,

That he met with honor, grace, and faith,

 

It was not uncommon to cross the Dojo floor,

And see the ice imprint of your previous steps,

Or running outside into a snowstorm,

In our karate GI and bare feet,

We did massive calisthenics because we didn’t have fancy equipment,

 

But we had:

Heart,

Soul,

Iron discipline,

Uncanny resilience,

To face the dragons that would come against us,

To face the adversary without fear, but calm presence:

 

We were, and are proud Aggies,

 

He graduated hundreds of us, never worried, or wondered,

He knew we would be successful,

In whatever we HOPED to achieve:

 

We were ALL his daughters and sons of thunder.

 

Domo Arigato (“thank you very much”) Sensei Dr. Gilbert Casterlow.

 

Source of O-Sensei:

 

Morihei Ueshiba was a Japanese martial artist and founder of the martial art of aikido. He is often referred to as "the founder" Kaiso or Ōsensei, "Great Teacher." Wikipedia