Poems for My Sons

Tag: Ye Ye

  • 3 March 2026, 5.22PM

    Ye Ye was a dad during a different time
    Things not done now were back then fine
    I remember having to pick which cane
    (or sometimes it was just the belt)
    I can’t remember the pain
    Though I can still feel my finger caressing the welts

    It was a different form of discipline
    Not much room for bargaining
    When he was tempered he had a thunderous voice
    His own way to show love for his boys

    Ye Ye’s mission was just for us to be good
    Have a home, a good job, and not lack for food
    Although we may not have done all that he wished
    He was content in the end

    Dad,
    Mission accomplished.

  • 1 March 2026, 5.51AM

    Ye Ye was always up for
    a hot bowl of noodle soup
    He’d cup his hands into a bowl
    Shape his mouth into an O

    “Don’t you just feel like a bowl of pho?

    Most times we would go.

    Invariably there were also times
    when his boys wouldn’t give in
    And so Ye Ye being Ye Ye
    though he’d much rather soup
    in the end
    would let us win

  • Screenshot

    22 February 2026, 6.12AM

    Your Ye Ye passed away recently
    Midnight in Malaysia, January 30
    He was in his bedroom, sleeping peacefully
    H****** you were only three
    Let me tell you some things about daddy’s daddy –

    First and foremost, he loved his family
    He did everything he could for Ma Ma, Uncle Jon, and me.
    He loved a good joke,
    to laugh and to poke.
    He loved to eat
    Beads of sweat
    Trickling down his head.
    When I was your age he could be fierce
    Many times he punished us to tears
    All he wanted was for us to be good
    (Though it would take some growing before we understood).

    And even before then
    Before your Ye Ye became a man
    He was just a boy like you and I was
    Figuring out life and what was his cause
    Son of his father Choong Yoon Chong
    And his mother Goh Lian Hong
    The second of five
    He gave us this life

    I miss him.

    I had a dream about him last night
    He was smiling and laughing
    And in his eye sparkled a light
    I asked him,
    “How is it possible that you are here?”
    The dream ended
    I didn’t get an answer

    One day, just like Ye Ye
    Daddy too will be gone
    But I want you to know
    I love you and I will never be far away
    Just look up at the sky and remember the trillions of kisses I have laid on your hand
    I will stick around as long as you need me to stay.