The Dean of St George's Cathedral, the Very Rev Michael Weeder, pays tribute to struggle icon Ahmed Kathrada who died on Tuesday morning at the age of 87.
UNCLE KATHY
Ahmed Kathrada: 1929 - 2017
Tender love has been your shield
and courage your apron of servanthood.
Your soul, once awash with longing
for comrades who shared with you
the frugal feasts of your island fort,
now rest unburdened of the weight of care
that led you to the certainty of prison.
You returned to the streets of struggle
in the spring of our revolution
your heart embalmed with the will
and strength of the Almighty.
With a mystic's grace you embraced
the shaming contradictions of unfulfilled promises,
and pursued the discipleship of mind and body
undeterred by the clamour of glory and the lure
of the Sabbath of the veteran.
Sweet, gentle brother of the people,
you leave us, strengthened by your kindness
your fearless reprimand
of those self-evicted from their souls,
those led by the morally blind.
Rest in the certainty that you leave us
beatified by your exemplary witness
as we gather, unbowed, against the merchants of fear
in this season of reckoning and gathered resolve.