How terribly sad! I just looked him up and read one of his poem's, The Bird-Understander and it brought me to tears because I've been exactly there and thought those very things.

He reminds me, at least in this instance, very much of Billy Collins, whom I love because I find his poetry both beautiful and highly accessible.

I'm glad to have had Craig Arnold brought to my attention, but am sad that it had to be in this way. I hope that they keep looking for him! I hate the idea of 'presumed' dead. I wish they could find his body so that there can be true closure for his family. In the world of fantasy and movie scripts, I wish that he was actually alive, being tended by some kind hermitical Samaritan, and would emerge from the wilds one day, whole and well and bursting with fantastic stories to tell and poems to write.

I concur with others - if you are inspired to write a poem about him, you should do so. People have written poems for less reasons than this, and no one will write the poem that you will. If you do indeed 'owe' me a poem (which I don't think you do), this is the one that I would like to read. :-)