Gone too soon

Photo from *Post-Courier* article ‘Basil is acting prime minister’ February 2, 2022

By Richard Napam

A star has fallen
An eagle has fallen
A light has gone out,
Gone too soon.

Gone are the dreams you had for us,
Dreams for a Nation of thousand tribes
Dreams that united millions
But you are gone
Gone too soon.

Words are meaningless to express
Express how dear you are,
For you are too dear
To go too soon

To the young, you have been,
An inspiration, to shoot to the stars,
A strength, to ascend the heights.
But you are gone,
Gone too soon.

Compassion defined your heart
A heart you shared with millions,
A heart belonged to the millions,
But you are gone,
Gone too soon.

Years may slip by,
Leaders may rise, and fall.
But your legacies will be forever,
Forever in our hearts,
Because you are gone,
Gone too soon.

Published by Ples Singsing

Ples Singsing is envisioned to be a new platform for Papua Niuginian expressions of creativity, ingenuity and originality in art and culture. We deliberately highlight these two very broad themes as they can encompass the diverse subjects, from technology, medicine and architecture to linguistics, music, fishing, gardening et cetera. Papua Niuginian ways of thinking, living, believing, communicating, dying and so on can cover the gamut of academic, journalistic or opinionated writing and we believe that unless we give ourselves a platform to talk about and discuss these things in an open, free and non-exclusively academic space that they may remain the fodder for academics, journalists and other types of writers alone. New social media platforms have given every individual a personal space to share their feelings and ideas openly, sometimes without immediate censure. The Ples Singsing writer’s blog would like to provide another more structured platform for Papua Niuginian expressions in written, visual and audio formats while also providing some regulation of the type and content of materials to be shared publicly. View more posts