Regards to Professor Lee at the English Dept. of NCCU

I felt quite at loss about the death of Professor Lee Wen-Bing (李文彬老師), my first professor of English literature in the department of English at NCCU, Taiwan. The news came a couple of weeks ago, the first piece of information about him that I got decades after graduation. I was never close to him as a disciple, but I truly enjoyed the first contact with literature that he initiated. He was never showy in his class, never explicitly zealous; however, his approach has been fundamental to my appreciation of literature.

There will be a funeral service for him this Saturday. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend it, and I have also failed to send a message in time to express my condolences, just like that I was never quick enough to be in touch over these past years. Deeply regretful. Here is the short message that I intend to tell him.

Dear Professor Lee, 

I have always been grateful that you are my first literature teacher. Twice a week throughout my first year in the English department of NCCU, you guided me from fiction, through drama to poetry. You have paved the first step to the realm of literature so beautifully that the subject became an instant charm. You were always kind, wise, instructive and never intimidating to us literature fledgelings - the style of a true scholar which I always look up to and always try to emulate. 

Thank you and please rest in peace.