In loving memory of my father Leong Khai Kwan
August 24th 1939 – June 14th 2021
This is a poem I wrote for my father during the first 24 hours of his passing.
2 earlier drafts were read during his wake service on Tuesday June 15th 2021 and his funeral service on Wednesday June 16th 2021 held on Zoom and at Xiao En Centre, Kuala Lumpur.
This poem was fine tuned over a few days, now published as a Father’s Day dedication.
I remember an exciting walk in the city
You showed me this colourful country
Spending the National Day with your little girl
Perched on your shoulders with the best view in the world
I remember you with a cheerful stride
Your lap was my daily amusement ride
Your laugh was always so contagious
Your madness was also quite outrageous
Whenever you picked me up from school
You do a familiar whistle that was oh so cool
While other parents scrambled to find their offsprings
Like a homing device I run towards your whistlings
你是我們的老爸, and we were blessed
You didn’t have much but you tried your best
You wanted your children to have all the smarts
You gave me great masters to hone me in the arts
We lived our lives with little to no frills
But I was given some unusual skills
Because of you I did so much more
Artistic traits from you I must explore
I took on your gift of the writing pen
I was composing before the age of ten
Exploring the wonders of nursery rhyming
I was your little poet in the making
Making ends meet while you insisted
Our personal growth must be persisted
Till you personally ran out of might
We were expected to still stay so bright
You had some very tall dreams
That fell apart at all the seams
Inevitably you were faced with sorrows
But we must make better all our tomorrows
Reality was harsh and life got difficult
It must have been hard, when I became disabled
My heartbroken father who was always kind
Your happiness was dimmed for a very long time
You struggled to see me in a wheelchair
Your life must have felt beyond despair
You tried to be strong for all of us
You wanted to get my health back first
We are a family of great survivors
Through highly impossible factors
Crises that came with no absolute cures
But insured by this street wisdom of yours
I do rather you stayed a lot longer
I do wish I was a better daughter
After we stand up from many great falls
Life has a way of throwing us curveballs
You were always a great believer
You were also a crazy dreamer
We will keep alight your torch of love
May you be proud of us from up above
Grateful to have the chance for redemption
It brought us back to the time of creation
Precious memories of your values detailed
Where fatherly love and family prevailed
We know our roots unconditionally
We promise to live with much dignity
Till I have done my time here complete
God willing, so again we shall meet
In the end you made an eternal vow
So Jesus will keep you forever now
Our loving father to us you are dear
Your memory with God in heaven is near
You went home to God in restful peace
The fact that you will be sorely missed
We promise to stick together for all times
Till our last hour when the clock tower chimes
Only His children gets to return home
Our lost spirits will not aimlessly roam
Like we do on this forsaken earth
Lost from the day of our human birth
You led our family as our father
Making a humble life with dear mother
You lived and ripened till eighty two
And returned to God to be brand new
We are grateful to journey through life
Despite the hardships and all the strife
My dearest pa, my crazy big heart
Through joy and sorrow, till death did us part
We had Pastor Christopher Toh of Chinese Methodist Hokkien Church conduct the wake service on Tuesday June 15th 2021 in English/Chinese and Pastor James Doss of Amazing Grace Christian Fellowship conduct the funeral service on Wednesday June 16th 2021 in English.
My father’s body was cremated and his bone ashes were placed at Nilai Memorial Park in CE-01-10 on Thursday June 17th 2021.
Due to the global pandemic, Justin and Monica was unable to travel to Kuala Lumpur and tuned in via zoom from Shanghai.