30th October, 2023 

A post by Raymond Goh last evening, intrigued me as it was unraveled by tomb inscriptions. And then caught up in the moment, inspired me to compose a poem which I am sharing in this blog post.  It has been reworked since but remains in essence in the same spirit. It goes like this: 

An Ode to Beauty and Justice 

The Father

Handsome is Mr. Koh,

brilliant, his path of justice

but sorrowful  his birth,

for she was gone in a whisper,

and ‘tho he knew not a mother’s love,

yet, he remembered her, first,

when his first born was delivered,

he named her for his mother.

A second followed

both as good as their Papa,

Graced the halls of justice,

for such was their beauty,

equaled only,

to the unparalleled head turner of their dear Papa.

Ode to Beauty & Brains 

The Daughters

So it came to pass, the daughters turned heads,

everywhere they went 

Down under, especially where they schooled, 

The younger, turned a beauty competition

Crowned, and together with her elder sister,

Claimed the prize, that was Melbourne,

Where they, you guessed it continued to turn heads, 

More years passed, 

And suitors came,

The older, turned the head of one Australian billionaire,

Settled down under, 

The younger, the crowned beauty,

Turned the head of an actor from Hollywood. 

~~~~~

Where are you now, Papa’s precious girls?

Because, we remember, you have never looked as beautiful

As when you were both on either side of Papa

With linked arms

~~~~~~

But here ends my ode to beauty and brains,

That was the family of Koh Choon Hong, 

An ode that lingers, because there is beauty and grace in their story,

And one last unanswered question, still. 

Where are you Shu and Tian? 

papa misses you

Koh Choon Hong (from NLB archived, extracted from bukitbrown.org)

Puay & Tian (NLB archives extracted from bukitbrown.org)

Special thanks to Raymond Goh for additional research into the meaning of the daughters’ names.