Dear Marjorie Jones
Since you hovered over Durosimi like a guardian angel after you left
you would have known that Durosimi Eldred Jones left us today
He left us filled with your shared memories to quench the emptiness in our lives
He left us with a ripple of light streaking across
the sky like a comet illuminating souls even though his light dimmed decades ago
He left us after infusing a bit of his glow in every one of us, so we shall light candles in the pedestal of our souls to set ablaze the literary firmament, after he had returned to his maker fulfilled.
He left us after emptying the tenderness in him on us, to tame our souls and trim our spirits in ways only literature can do.
He left us after those he had taught now teach the teachers of the future, so he shall live in mind-scapes even after he had left
He left us with hope and confidence only a people that had a Durosimi as a compatriot would have
He left us after his Midas touch had transformed us all to nuggets of gold scattered in the literary landscape for all to mine.
He left us with a compass to guide us through the literary maze with the precision of navigators
He left us after we had drunk from the fountain of knowledge sprouting from Leicester through mount Aureol to forlorn shores
He left us with an insatiable quest to follow knowledge Like Ulysses of old; to seek, to find and never to yield
Though he lost his lifetime library to delinquent fire,
He left a library in every one of his students waiting to be written.
Though he lost his sight and groped in the dark for ages, yet he was a fountain of light for a nation in the dark
Today we return a priceless gift to God for eternity with a song so graceful and amazing
Today we beat our chests with pride because we are Durosimi’s countrymen
Tomorrow, we shall gaze at the sky to see our Jones shine like a Cassiopeia constellation,
And we shall sing like John Keats’ Nightingale.
God be with you till we meet again
Yours sincerely,
By Oumar Farouk Sesay
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