G.F. Dutton (1924-2010) wrote austerely passionate poems which search and illuminate the world about us. They are as much explorations as his notable scientific work: both draw on one continuous spectrum of experience. In Dutton's diverse life and work, metaphor was as significant as the clearcut episodes which invoke it. From his windblasted vantage-point edging the Scottish Highlands, he explored mountain, sea, forest, industrial city, various arts and biomolecular research, publishing books on wildwater swimming, mountaineering and mountain gardening as well as three poetry collections and this retrospective. Numerous scientific publications add to this continuous spectrum of enquiry: an abundance he found multiplied, maybe unified, by being laid bare.