Eminent jurist and senior advocate Fali S. Nariman passed away at the age of 95 on February 21, 2024.Nariman argued several landmark cases during his illustrious career of 70 years and was appointed the additional solicitor general of India – but resigned in protest when the Indira Gandhi government imposed Emergency rule in June 1975.He received the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2007. For Fali NarimanFali met his maker in his sleep.A good way to go, someone saidThe last brief still unfinishedFor the Constitutional Bench.A chuckle from the other sideAs he firms up his final argumentsIn a booming, frail voice.There’s no easy path to libertyAnd once you find it, you have to keep at it.Freedom of speech, but also freedom after speech.All green, he once said to me, twenty-five summers youngSo full of heart.Do not lose heart, he saidThough the ocean is turbulentDo not lose faith.Blessed with principle, but also someone who knewHow to laugh.Who enjoyed a joke like no tomorrow.Old lawyers don’t fade away, he saidThey just lose their appeal.He understood, how things pass,How time makes way for no oneBut that page had to be written, and that argumentHad to be chiseled to perfection.He liked the pen and signed his letters, to old and young,Simply Fali.Amlanjyoti Goswami is the author of River Wedding (2019) and Vital Signs (2022), published by Poetrywala.