And death shall have no dominion

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon; 
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot; 
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; 
Though lovers be lost love shall not; 
And death shall have no dominion.

From "And Death Shall have No Dominion", by Dylan Thomas

I'm back from Hong Kong. I never thought I'd return to Hong Kong again so soon after my recent trip this year, but I had to. My Grandpa (more affectionately known as "Gramps") passed away in the wee hours of 5 October, so we returned to Hong Kong over the weekend and Monday for the funeral and wake.

Before we went to Hong Kong, I volunteered to read the poem "And Death Shall have No Dominion" by famous Welsh poet Dylan Thomas for the eulogy. I'm normally quite nervous about public speaking actually. The last time I ever recited a poem before an audience was when I attended Speech and Drama lessons during my primary school days. This time, however, I volunteered readily to be my family's "unofficial spokesperson" and recite a poem that would represent our thoughts about our beloved Gramps' passing. I chose "And Death Shall have No Dominion" because it struck a chord in me the first time I read it during the week of national mourning when Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away.

I am glad I did. I felt just a bit nervous when I stood behind the podium and made my short introduction, but the nervousness melted away as I recited. Thomas's poem is a thoroughly beautiful piece that evokes vivid imagery in a romantic kind of way, while paying tribute to the victory of life and the human spirit over death. This is truly what my family and I hope for Gramps. Up until the onset of his dementia and the subsequent deterioration of his mental and physical health a few years ago, Gramps had been a gentle and kindly man who was a beloved part of my brother's childhood and mine. To say that the deterioration of his health left him a shadow of his former self was an understatement. He shrunk to a bony figure who I could barely recognized and who could not recognize me or my family at all. When he passed away this month, my Ma kept saying that it must have been a relief for him to be finally free from suffering. We like to think that Gramps is in a better place now, a happy place where he has "stars at elbow and foot" and where death, pain and suffering have no dominion.

At the end of my recital, I bowed in the direction of Gramps's coffin. In a way, reciting the poem out loud before an audience was like an open affirmation of my belief of the unconquerable nature of the human spirit. There was a brief moment later at the cremation site, when I faltered and desperately thought "Is this truly farewell, now?" as I watched the coffin bearing Gramps moving into the cremator. I quickly murmured to myself "Though lovers be lost love shall not, and death shall have no dominion" as Gramps slowly disappeared from view. It was a truly meaningful poem, like a talisman we hold against our hearts in the face of sadness and loss.

My family and I stepped out into the sunlight and took the bus back to the city in silence and with a sense of closure.