Eulogy for Our Departed Son

EULOGY TO NANA YAW FREDUA AGYEMANG PREMPEH, THE SON OF MY FRIEND

BY DR. SAMUEL ADJEI SARFO

To those whose beloved son is gone, there will be no words of comfort; to those whose sights are plugged, there will be no light seen; and to those whose paragon is struck, there will be no relief.

And so it is with us today. Our son is gone. He was a child of great promise; one who put the smile on our lips and showed us the path to abundant hope. He was the one to crown our gray hair with the glory of old age; he was the strength of our very arms and the light unto our darkness. Yaw was a son as a good son should be, an obedient and responsible child who gave great respect and honor to all of us.

Nana Yaw was an exceptionally determined and courageous son who overcame all obstacles to better his status in life. Those who know him well will attest to his sense of humility, affability and respect. He was an individual who never bore a grudge against anyone or pretended to be better than anybody. His sensitivity to the distress of others made him a young man of generosity, selflessness and kindness. His goodwill toward all others made him a great asset to all others. He was a strong support in time of despair. Wherever he went, he looked for those in need to support. Of all that our son knew of good, he performed. From all that he knew of evil, he refrained; and of all that he was left to know and understand, he daily prayed for the Almighty God to show him His way to righteousness.

Yaw’s sudden death has left all of us shattered, confused and lost. We are assailed by a deep sense of despair because our son is no more. The jewel of our crown is gone. Our badge of honor is torn. Our very spirit is sapped from us because our beloved son is gone, the child of our youth is no more. The hope of our future is dimmed. We now tread the winding paths of this fearful world like a shadow of ourselves, distracted sojourners whose dreams have been stolen by a force too mysterious to understand.

Nana Yaw, our only beloved son, our dear friend, brother, companion and counselor, our model child of great promise, to what hostile spirits do you owe this horrific end? To what forces of evil and destruction have you sacrificed your precious life? Why this sudden departure? Why this shocking end? Is this the price to pay for humility, selflessness, truthfulness, hard work, devotion to duty and total obedience to those who gave you life? We have too many questions and yet bereft of answers. We have too many words and yet deprived of voice. We have too much emotion and yet no ventilation.

Yours was a life of great opportunities, of wonderful promises waiting to be fulfilled, of beautiful feats begging to be accomplished. Long past was the time of our great tribulation; the future was to be full of honor, jubilation and celebration. Yet, in the end, here you lie, so still and silent, so unmoving and without expression ……..We are struck speechless by the terror of this ceremony, for your passing is an event better postponed to the remotest corner of the far away future. You were the one to bury us, and not we you; you were the one to sing us a dirge, to crown our years with a song of lamentation. Yet here we are, cursed with the role so reversed, a role so unfair!

This then is our theater of horrors, our drama of despair, our mirror of misery, the type of tragedy against which all our prayers were daily directed, the very reason for which we daily sought the face of God, for which like Job, we brought our sacrifices to the altar of The Holy One. Yet is this horror so forcefully visited upon us! Who will comfort us? Who will be our bastion of support in this time of great adversity? From whom shall we hear soothing words of comfort to encourage us to withstand the grief of our broken hearts? To whom shall we direct a thousand questions? And from whence shall be our answers?

We are all weeping. Your father and mother are weeping. Your sisters and our daughters, Maa Benewah and Obaa Pa are weeping; your friends are all weeping; your colleagues are all weeping. If rivers of tears woke the dead, we should see the miracle of Lazarus performed today before our very eyes. Yet our comfort is in the lord God Almighty, our guard and guide in these times of extreme sorrow. In Him we invest the eternal hope that someday, sometime, somewhere, somehow, in the far away future of a glorious kingdom where there is neither tears nor sorrow, we shall meet again and live and love and laugh again.

Until the coming of this glorious kingdom, Nana Yaw Fredua Agyemang Prempeh, the dear son of our youth , true brother to our dear daughters, family of our family, son of our friends, our handsome firstborn child, supporter, companion and counselor, may you rest in God’s perfect peace.

Samuel Adjei Sarfo, J.D, is a practicing lawyer in Austin, Texas. You can email him at sarfoadjei@yahoo.com