Justice Katju Deathbed
A soldier of India
By Justice Katju
I am 79, and my medical reports indicate I may not have much longer to live,
But how does that matter ? I have fought for my country, and will continue fighting for it to the end, come what may.
I am reminded of these verses in Macaulay’s Lays of Ancient Rome :
” Then out spake brave Horatius
The Captain of the gate
To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods “
I am also reminded of the following poem of Tennyson
Sunset and Evening Star
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For though from out our bourne of time and place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.
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