Sunday, 19 July 2009

For Capt. Yusof - Alfatihah


Sailing takes me away
To where I've always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free.


I met the Ancient Mariner just once - about 1 1/2 years ago at the Press Club. In that smoke filled room I remembered a man with a gentle face and a twinkle in his eyes - just sitting and listening and smiling.
I go into his blog very frequently. He writes like he looks - serious, precise in his words and phrases; at times angry but non-judgemental. He was a concerned and thinking blogger. To me he belongs to that rare breed - the Malay Gentleman.

He was just a year younger than me. At my age we begin to notice our peers departing this blessed earth. This is my third farewell tribute since we got back. May Allah bless him on his journey and to grant his wife and family the strength to carry on.


Most nights before we switch off the lights, Iain would say to me, "See you tomorrow, love." There was one night when I just cried and asked, "What if I don't see you tomorrow?"

We must always keep this question in mind in our relationships with our parents, our spouses and children and sibling and friends.

Farewell Capt. Yusof.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
'Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.'
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)


See you tomorrow. God be willing.
at

6 comments:

  1. imsunnysideup19 July 2009 at 23:20

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  2. mekyam20 July 2009 at 00:10

    what a beautiful send-off, maam!

    those lines of RLS are so apt.

    farewell, ancient mariner... al-fatihah!

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  3. Kama At-Tarawis20 July 2009 at 02:53

    Simply beautiful, ma'am...
    Alfatihah untuk allahyarham Yusuf.

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  4. anak si-hamid20 July 2009 at 15:10

    Thank you mekyam and Kama.

    When I was in Form Five my Literature teacher gave us this line by John Donne : " any man's death diminishes me. "

    I have never forgotten this.

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  5. anak si-hamid20 July 2009 at 15:10

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  6. mekyam20 July 2009 at 23:04

    certain truism resonates for eternity.

    now i too won't forget donne's "any man's death diminishes me."

    thank you, ms hamid!

    p.s. this is almost a month of mass going home. i find myself saying al-fatihah to so many departed, both near and far. one of them is a most dear indonesian right-hand cum rock who has been with my family in malaysia for almost 3 decades. it's so very sobering.

    subhanAllahi wa biHamdihi!

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