Farewell to Lapid Fire

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. — Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius  Antoninus

SOME people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75—but certainly not our friend Percival ‘Percy Lapid’ Mabasa.

This is according to the Founding Father of the United States Benjamin Franklin who believed that many people give up on their dreams at such a young age and end up living whole life regretting why they haven’t done this or that and they die aimlessly.

And our friend, brother and colleague Percy has proven that pursuing our ambitions gives those with firm convictions to fulfill their role in life to the fullest. I do not aim to glorify Percy’s passing away but I emulate his way of standing by his principles to the extent that his life has been snuffed away from us.

I cannot imagine the loss. Words appear to lack their true value to describe the bereavement we feel. Suffice it to say that the world stopped for me for several minutes on learning about his unfortunate death. And since to pay tribute to one like the fearless Lapid Fire seems to be insufficient, let me do it through a poem I wrote today . . .

Tears Again Flow (Again)

I cry a flood of tears

Like what I did when Jerry died

O’er space and time so it appears

Soulfully someone had sorely lied

Tears again flow from my eyes

A sign of great loss that never dies

From distant past and darkened future

Regardless of faith that I always nurture In truth

I feel bereaved and sad

Engulfed by the grief in my heart

Now that a friend has breathed his last

Did he bid farewell to so depart?

It causes pain and tears to flow

Not in essence but in the sadness that grows

Piercing the soul like a thousand knives

Ever present in our daily lives

Remember then how we convene today

Chances are we’ve passed this way

Years before when we lost a friend

Like what we’ll feel when we meet the end

An ever threatening Damoclean sword

Poised above our heads like a scourge

I cry again a torrent of painful tears

Death truly has awakened so many fears.

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