P. Ramrajsingh, un ancien collègue d’Antoinette Prudence au collège Saint-Louis, a tenu à lui rendre hommage en vers élégants et touchants.

<B>To our cherished Antoinette Prudence</B>

<I>wished you had only tricked me an April fool

Yet news of your sudden end hit me so cool

Your unpredictable demise was a bolt from the blue

Leaving all our senses in a real glue

Almost forty years after, I'm sure for paradise you packed

To follow our beloved sister, Sainte Famille, on her heavenly track

Fateful decision !

Some souvenir of your school time

Are still vivid to me in their prime;

In your gait if you were not nimble

In your acts and deeds you were most humble;

Memories of your serious but attentive figure

To me they remain always fresh and lustre;

Your hand, you would often raise with a smile

And the answers would fluently flow within a little while;

My child ! One day, you sat on the bench in full tears

To me, it occurred you would forever love all cheers;

To you, I advised humiliation you should about never mind

Instantly, I felt you had stoically left the affront behind ;

To the rigid class rules, you always stooped

Only when grown up to realise they were for your own goal;

Perseveringly in a glimpse so high you soared

And bunches of fame and honours you did hoard

From Plaine Corail Airport to Plaisance you were flown

In the hospital on the angel's wings you left us all forlorn

In Saint Patrick Church people of all callings had gathered

Mournful and silent listening the pre-funeral oration so solemnly delivered

Paying you a last homage, the Bishop had been so modest

Emphazing that in your dealings, you were most honest;

Tu étais vraiment dans la Cours des Grands !

Third April this year at Marechal, a mourning day did dawn

In the churchyard at Saint Gabriel, a hungry grave did yawn;

Families, relatives and others from all social rungs

By the aisles did stand,; an air of lamentations seemed hung ;

While the funeral bells did grievingly toll

Everflowing beads of sorrow down the cheeks of all did roll;

Intent they stood swallowing the eulogy

Pronounced drearily by your towering Bishop with conviction and energy,

Always hale and hearty, you devoted yourself to your motherland and church

Certain am I by the Almighty, your soul will not be left in the lurch

Your country in its archives, will perpetuate and treasure your memories and name;

And allow the coming generations to bow down to your everlasting fame;

As an insular native, your land you had trodden

But as continental heroine, you had it abandoned;

James Shirley's quotations in “Death, The leveller” are read thus

'Only the actions of the just

Smell sweet and blossom in their dust'.

Farewell. </I>

<B>RAMRAJSINGH (Singh)</B> Ex-teacher Saint-Louis CollegeRodrigues