02/03/2026
"Elegy of Departure"
By Dr. A. Kalam
01.03.26
TodayâĻ
the sky feels strangely silent.
A silence so deepâ
as if time itself has paused
while trying to speak a single name.
The air is heavyâĻ
an unseen grief spreads across the horizon,
moments fall away slowly,
and the heart quietly understandsâ
today it is not merely a person,
but an entire era that has departed.
Listenâ
not every farewell is death.
Some farewells
are like the sound of a broken pillar of history,
whose echo continues to tremble
within human hearts for many years.
He has goneâ
yet this is not simply the loss of a life;
it is like a guiding light
suddenly extinguished
in the middle of a world that had lost its way,
a light by which weary people
learnt to recognise the darkness around them.
Storms surrounded himâ
blockades, fear, threats,
and the harsh gaze of power.
Still, he did not bow.
Instead, he taught the storm itself
what it means to stand firm.
When the world chose silence
in exchange for safety,
he stood as a solitary voiceâ
the language of the oppressed peopleâs tears,
the echo of quiet resistance.
WeâĻ
yes, once we were confused.
We memorised histories written by others
and imprisoned ourselves
within walls of division.
But timeâ
like a patient teacherâ
placed truth before us.
Then we understood:
courage belongs to no sect,
justice knows no border,
and truth cannot be confined
within the cage of identity.
While many nations
chose the comfort of safe shadows,
he walked towards the edge of fire
and declared with steady conviction,
âNo compromise with injustice.â
Long years of blockadeâĻ
a weary nationâĻ
endless conspiracies in the darkâ
none could force his head to bow.
For faith is not something to be sold,
and belief does not learn surrender.
Today, in his absence,
the heart feels like an empty desertâ
where once stood
a sheltering tree of shade.
Now the shade is gone;
travellers stand beneath the burning sun,
holding nothing
but the dust of memory.
Yet remember thisâ
deep beneath the soil of grief
he has left a seed:
silentâĻ
unseenâĻ
yet alive.