Michael Levy

Mike Levy has died. People in the SFF academic community will know him, also people attending local cons, where Mike was on wonderful panels on recent SFF. I have known Mike and his wife Sandy Lindow for decades. I can't express how great a loss this is. A bright, kind, thoughtful guy, a teacher and scholar and fan, human-hearted and civilized. One of my favorite people.

Here is a poem, not written about Mike, but it fits, sort of. Though I am not the slightest bit comfortable about losing Mike.

Leavetaking

(In the Manner of Tu Fu)

We stop at a tavern outside the capital:
one last evening of wine
and composing poetry.
You will leave before daybreak,
taking the long dark road alone.

In the distance mountains loom:
deep gorges and high passes.
Clouds enfold the peaks.
Monkeys scream on the sheer cliffs.
The country ahead of you
is the stuff of legends.

In my mind I see
your tiny figure
diminishing and diminishing,
until you are invisible
in the distance,
while I lie warm
and comfortable under my quilt,
planning to rise late
and compose another poem.

Many of the classical Chinese poets were government bureaucrats, often sent away to be administrators in distant provinces. Classical Chinese poetry is full of leavetakings.