RELEE Remembered: Poem by Jeptha Evans

In Memory of Richard Lee

Already it is evening.
Now the colors seem to glow
from within though
already it is evening

and shadows, grown long
through the long afternoon, now
gather into
a single one. Evening

already, and we weren't prepared,
it came so slowly, with colors
surprising, that there could be
in fading, new lusters
that before had been obscured
in the greater light of day.

© 2004 Jeptha Evans

Note about this poem: Jeptha Evans was a colleague and officemate of Richard E. Lee at CSULB. After moving to the East Coast, he, Richard, and Savya maintained their friendship. In an e-mail dated April 26, 2004, he writes: "...I am sending a poem I wrote for Richard. It's based on a perception of him, an obvious one, that he was an energetic person. This energy, which was an inner quality as well as a physical and intellectual one (in the form of curiosity, of interest in so much), impressed me more and more as it continued unabating as he grew older. Then when he retired, he had such a wonderful retirement--so filled with poetic and artistic creations, and a kind of musical career with Savya, out of nowhere it seemed. Thus the poem, and the intensity of twilight...."