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He possessed the rarest integrity.”

Apart from his role as political advisor to the NLD and Suu Kyi, he also advised the future democracy icon in her study of Burmese literature prior to 1988.

In his life outside Burma, Tin Moe devoted most of his time to writing poetry and giving literary speeches to Burmese communities in the US and Thailand. When I visited him at his home in California last year, I found that he spent all of his time writing poetry and puffing o­n his favorite Burmese cheroots.

Tin Moe was a poet to the very end of his life. He was hailed by many as a “revolutionary poet” for his unshakeable devotion to the Burmese people and their struggle for democracy. He contributed poems to numerous journals and magazines, including The Irrawaddy’s Burmese-language Web site. Two days before his death, he wrote a poem for the prominent former student leader Min Ko Naing and his 88 Generation Students group. He called the poem “The Benevolence of the New Generation.”

When asked to comment o­n the death of Tin Moe, Min Ko Naing responded with a short poem he conceived while he spoke to The Irrawaddy by phone from Rangoon, and o­ne that conveys the thoughts of Tin Moe’s many grieving admirers.

Min Ko Naing said:

“It is said a star fell last night; but it will shine for thousands of light years.”