{"id":219770,"date":"2021-06-06T19:46:07","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T14:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=219770"},"modified":"2021-06-11T18:19:15","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T12:49:15","slug":"for-qadri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/for-qadri\/","title":{"rendered":"For Qadri"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Arjuna Parakrama<\/a> –<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Qadri Ismail<\/p><\/div>\n

Never again that shoulder-shaking laugh from you \u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Rising like a wave from nowhere, gone for <\/span>good, and bad,<\/span><\/p>\n

My mixed tenses defy sense for me as I describe<\/span><\/p>\n

What cannot be, but is, so starkly suddenly, the end.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Difficult even at the best of times, extraordinary at the worst,<\/span><\/p>\n

You fought every battle fiercely and had fun, irreverent but not mean,<\/span><\/p>\n

I suspected then your arrogance was a pose, now I think I know<\/span><\/p>\n

How studied disrespect walked your talk \u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Age blunted the jagged edge; not if a principle was at stake.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Breaking rules was as easy as was brilliance for you,<\/span><\/p>\n

Brash then, disdainful, brusque now, but always loyal, always right,<\/span><\/p>\n

Maddening mix of cocksure and insecure, you are.<\/span><\/p>\n

So learning to suffer fools must have been hard, though never knaves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Steadfast, your distance lent perspective, brought you close,<\/span><\/p>\n

Courageous then, physically more careful now, yet cutting edge ambitious,<\/span><\/p>\n

Still rushing in, even in death, uncompromising, impatient most of all.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your passion remained like abstract love, requited to no avail,<\/span><\/p>\n

Those scars you hid, like the mistakes of youth <\/span><\/p>\n

In the ocean of your smile, outrageously disarming, but,<\/span><\/p>\n

Deep wounds, endemic to your work, cannot be wished away, <\/span><\/p>\n

Making normal life irresponsible, beyond the pale.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reporter, activist-scholar, social-critic, adventurer, friend for life:<\/span><\/p>\n

All parts of you are outstanding, all cannot be replaced:<\/span><\/p>\n

All lost, like that shoulder-shaking laugh.<\/span><\/p>\n

No, gone but never lost. Kept alive, fragilely,<\/span><\/p>\n

In your promise of abiding here with us, and ours with you.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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