Singing for Bob: Tales and Testimonials

The Phoenix that is Bob Shafer
A man of slight stature and heroic heart,
has so many talents that set him apart:
A conductor, composer and teacher of song
You'd not know to meet him of all that went wrong.
A job loss, a car wreck and pandemic too
would be more than sufficient to make the man blue,
but up from the ashes of every tough time
he rises again and again to reclimb.
Each trial so disruptive and soul-crushing too
still Bob finds a way of becoming anew.
His musical gifts are so easy to see
yet it's his resilience that just astounds me.
When life became gruesome, he wrote a new work
that transmutes the trouble to a higher mark.
Like the phoenix of legend, Bob rises up too
with newly found vigor to inspire you.
He never gives up or gives out or gives in
He just keeps on moving with force from within.
- Laura Bradford