One of Gloucester's most lyrical, passionate and pointed voices is now silent, with the passing of the city's poet laureate, Vincent Ferrini.

But it is this region's and the world's good fortune that his voice will remain in the volumes of poetry he leaves behind.

Ferrini, who died on Christmas Eve at the age of 94, was born and raised in Lynn. Nearly 60 years ago he moved to Gloucester where he and friend-rival Charles Olson helped put the city on the literary map.

Ferrini was an unabashed radical when it came to political, economic and social issues. But through that philosophy ran a moral code that his friend John Bell, the outgoing mayor, said made him "the conscience of Gloucester ... the one who asked us to think about who we are."

He was also transparent. What his friends and readers saw was not a pose.

"He was totally without inhibition," said author and friend Peter Anastas.

Ferrini made the most of a long life. He lacked the money for higher education when he graduated from high school during the Great Depression, so he educated himself at the Lynn Public Library and went on to publish more than 30 volumes of poetry, including an autobiography written largely in verse.

Along the way, he also fell in love with Gloucester, for what he called "the quality of a sea city."

His legendary reputation and wealth of admirers and friends in Gloucester makes it obvious that this was a mutual love affair.