The Last Battle: Justice Katju’s Final Words on Duty and Death

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.