To The First Naga Lady Doctor

(Elegy written on the 9th Anniversary of Late Dr. K.K. Angami) (VnR)

Nine years have passed and I still feel so blue

When I think of you, doctor of renown.

And how I wish I could bid you adieu

Before the harsh storms of age blew you down.

And when I think of how these many years

Your resting place to visit dared not I,

In grief cries out my heart, and I have fears

That I may with regret live till I die.

For though I dreamed to come and comfort thee

With my success, yet by fate crippled, came

My plans to naught, and with you could not be

Nor visit the stone marked with your dear name.

And now, you cannot hear me mourn your death,

But here I come lamenting yet once more,

The sad loss of my patron; soul so great,

A giver true, a mother of the poor.

And since your passing, there has been a dearth

In our world, of good men and people nice.

Kind mother, your demise has left the earth

One giver less and many orphaned twice.

The world is full of men who give just for

Fame, good men who exploit the meek and weak,

Feigned givers who pretend to help the poor

But rob, and those who only riches seek.

The poor man’s house is now a place forlorn

Where mirth of joyous children’s heard no more.

Thou fair house, once for all a happy home

Now calmly sleeps; your praises sung no more.

Here I come, not with gifts but praise in verse,

To tell to the world how you helped the poor

And needy and ne’er fame or glory sought.

Adieu, till we meet on the other shore.

Pekingto Y Jimo