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Honorable Vice-Chancellor.
Ladies and gentlemen.
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lt is a great honor to be asked
to give a speech tonight
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in tribute to my old friend
Gabriel Lidman.
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Gabriel Lidman is the aristocrat
among our poets.
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The most outstanding trait in
his character is honesty,
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honesty in the great
and the small.
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He derides the mediocre,
even when it hides
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beneath a noble
and proper veneer.
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His essence is curiosity,
captivating curiosity
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in his exceedingly
subdued appearance.
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When he speaks,
it is with such tranquillity,
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one is forced to listen.
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He never becomes pathetic.
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Do you feel all right?
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The torches make it
warm here.
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His speech can be colored with
light but caustic irony
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which does not sting.
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He loves stillness,
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inspirational stillness...
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Do you feel ill?
:51:24
Lidman has cultivated
succinctness as an artistic form.
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He never writes a word too many.
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Each sentence is well considered
and as sharp as a razor.
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He shuns vague speech,
sentimentality,
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false pathos and the
unextraordinary.
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You can sit here undisturbed.
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Would you like the door
to the main hall closed?