In Lehmann's Terms

In Lehmann's Terms


Just a decade ago, we were all ten years fresher
But were feeling the strains of the Y2K pressure,
Since the digits confused by millennial coding
Would be causing Apocalypse Now by exploding.

When precisely into this precipitous mess,
Stephen Lehmann stepped in as the new chair of WESS:
He did nót solve a problem that díd not need solving,
No, he merely helped WESS in its further evolving.

From Berzérkly to Lésotho in the Peace Corps,
San Diego, Nebraska, and finally Swarthmore,
Stephen learned and he wrote and he translated, too,
Till he joined up at Penn with the library crew.

If you know Stephen Lehmann, you know his sharp mind
Has been building collections, the most humane kind
By selecting at Penn based on feelings he felt
While supporting the efforts in stacks of Van Pelt.

There’s just óne final fact that I think you should know.
Stephen always has had dual passports to show:
One American, one from a postage-stamp realm
(Liechtensteinian citizenship at the helm).

It's a privilege passed down through the family roots
That can bé verified through a court in Vaduz.
When the Vietnam War in the Sixties was crafted,
Stephen Lehmann, our friend, never even got drafted.

Though he’s traveled each day between Swarthmore and Penn
Though he’s come back the next day to do it again,
Now the time has arrived for his final retiring
And we all wish him well in his further aspiring.

- Richard Hacken

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