The country is in mourning. Malaysia has lost First Lady Endon Mahmood, wife of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The prime minister who carries the burden of the country can be assured that every Malaysian at home and abroad, of every colour and creed, share his sorrow and assures him of our moral support at this difficult moment.

Endon refused to allow cancer to subdue her zest for life. She lived freely and fully. And the words of Samuel T Coleridge are so apt for her: "How well (s)he fell asleep! Like some proud river, widening toward the sea; Calmly and grandly, silently and deep - life joined eternity!"

She will be remembered as one who smiled on in spite of the suffering. She was her courage.

In this dark hour, may the prime minister be comforted by the words of the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore: "Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because dawn has come."