Publication Abstract

Epitaph, Helsinki

R.R. Dickson

These ICES History Conferences are a pain
But not perhaps in quite the way you think.
I mean they bring to mind all over again
Papers you meant to write but never did
Others you did that were a waste of ink
And all these classic works by famous men
Such milestones in our field and so well known
That somehow, neither you nor anyone else
Ever got round to reading them. Oh well
At least we put them in our reference lists.

"But", people say, "we need some backwards view
To draw a line through history and thus predict
Our future." I fear that may be true.
That sometime in some distant hall, some men
Much like ourselves, will stare at sepia prints
And try to guess who was that short fat delegate over there
Next to the tall white-haired Germanic-looking chap.
"I think he's someone in the IOC" someone will say
And someone with a ball-point pen
Will write "G. Kullenberg" across my chest
And worse, a question mark on Jens
(much as we've done all week and just as wrong).

Someone with a classical turn of mind
Is bound to say, as someone always does,
That he who forgets history and past times
Is fated to repeat them. Fine by me!
I have enjoyed it all!

I would be happy if our Conference decides
That we have been as useful in our trade,
No less, no more
As warm years in the Barents Sea to cod.
And on the tombstone of our week
Someone engraves Svein Sundby's ringing phrase
Not that we did it all, but that we were
"necessary but not sufficient" for year-class strength.
That will do me!

Reference:

R.R. Dickson, 2002. Epitaph, Helsinki. ICES Marine Science Symposium, 215: 7.