Lie here comrade in this unstoned tomb,
The rains shall soon level the earthen mound,
And you be food for maggots and worms,
But we will not weep that you are gone.
*
We will not weep, not even a drop,
Or hang our heads down or beat our breasts,
For you have lived your life in full, not,
Seared by the shame of a cowardly past.
*
You had only one life to live and once,
That one life was your dearest possession,
You have lived it without years of torture,
Of purposeless life or of trivial past.
*
No comrade that you are dead and gone,
And your guiding hand from us withdrawn,
When amidst struggle your memory recall,
In the jungle, to all with pride shall tell,
“All his life and strength was given,
To the first cause in the world,
The liberation of mankind.”
**
J J Puthucheary, 25 February 1952