"But the noblest thing which perished there
Was that young faithful heart."
On May 6, 2014, just nine days before her birthday, I buried my beloved sister who had succumbed to cancer.
There was another funeral, that of a 13 year old young boy, who was also buried just yards away. Both funerals' pallbearers joined to pay their respects and said their prayers over both the departing souls.
The memory of my sister, "bajia" as we called her, flooded back. She was studying A-Level, and I... well I was just trying to finish my homework on the poem "Casablanca" so I could go and play - besides, I was not sure why the boy on the burning deck couldn't just bail out too.
My gallant sister taught me, there and then, the virtues of that 13 year old boy on the burning deck.
Couple of weeks ago, I saw bajia stand "on the burning deck / Whence all but she had fled". She was the Casablanca personified. She looked the cancer in the eye and fought til her last breath - all by herself. To me, she was in the company worthy of that 13 year old boy - died more than a century ago... but buried a mere yards away.
Happy Birthday Bajia... May 15, 2014.
