IN YOUR SLEEP, YOU KEPT US AWAKE

(A tribute to a departed colleague, a Malay Collegian, Shahrol NIzam Yusoff, who left us on 22nd October 2007)

I could still recall...

When we were younger,

As we flipped through the chronicles of history,

Memories just cannot ignore...


We were bold enough,

To speak of our minds,

We were brave enough,

To take all kinds of chances,

We had our differences,

But we learnt to live with it,

We were passionate, carefree and energetic,

Thinking that our youth was eternal...

In our minds,

We are young still...


In the murmurs of a misty morning,

You left us all in a sudden,

No gush of wind,

No clamouring thunder,

No rush of clouds harbouring above the skies,

Just a quiet, solemn contemplation,

As you lay down in repose.


Your passing saddens us all,

Not just through the tears of your weeping children,

Nor through the anguish and the pain of your loved one,

But by the thoughts that anything could happen,

Anything could be triggered,

Anything is possible...

In this very day and age,

In our short and sheltered life.


Sending us a gentle yet breezy reminder,

That life and all of its relevancies,

Are just a temporary treasure,

A mid-term pleasure,

That no amount of men could measure,

For certain...


In your deep unperturbed sleep,

You had kept us all awaken...

For that is indeed your aide memoire to us all.

- Aris Abdillah M. Kamal -