On the Death of JRB

by Marc Mangel

 

Death takes from us in a sudden and sharp way

and leaves a gap in our spirits

that is hard to describe

but the lack of feeling is there

 

Life gives to us laughter and joy

a knowledge that somewhere

this man who so loves life

is enjoying it

fulfilling it

even if we do not meet often

 

Death has taken this man

and moved his spirit elsewhere

Our souls feel another

emptiness

some of our depth is gone

and can never be replaced

 

Life and Death

Death and Life

these are the ways of

man and all creatures

So we must bear up

and

though we feel the emptiness

seek a new

fullness

in this world

 

14 April 1982

[Julius Blum was hired as the Chair of the Statistics Department at UC Davis in the late 1970s and was one of my

mentors when I first arrived there. He died of a heart attack.]