Tattered White Sneakers

[Tribute to Dr. Burhanuddin Kamaluddin]

A year ago,

We thought....

Taking on microprocessor lab was a pain,

Programming - what is this.... nonsense?

Machine language?

To hell with these funny codes!

Then he comes in...

So cool in his tattered white sneakers,

Always smiling,

It had never crossed my mind that he was a middle-aged man,

He scribbled the whiteboard to guide us,

Whatever it meant,

It helped us,

Though I still didn't get it.

We grumbled at his absence,

Like dangling on the edge of the cliff,

With no other branches to grab,

For when he was around,

He showed us a lot of things,

An average young adult couldn't see,

That microprocessor thingy...

And what is inside it.

He tried his best to spark our interest,

He gave us the relaxed atmosphere,

He let us submit our reports at the end of the semester,

He gave me an A-

If only I could thank him properly...

***

Two days ago I heard the news,

Only yesterday we went for a visit,

He looked so different,,

Motionless on the hospital bed,

Oblivious to our presence,

Then we had a flashback,

On how lively he used to be...

Today we wanted to pray for him,

Pray that he would be fine,

We woke up early,

For his sake,

But alas, it was too late...

I thought that if he wakes up,

The card we left (wishing him 'get well soon!'),

Would put a smile on his face,

That he'd return to the department,

Knowing that everyone's waiting for him,

Strutting in his tattered white sneakers.

But I guess...

It's time for him to go...

To our dear lecturer,

Professor Madya Dr. Burhanuddin Kamaluddin,

Thank you for your kindness,

Rest in peace,

Al-fatihah.

forgive me, but I think his 'tattered white sneakers' are cool, so don't take it as a bad thing. And I don't know how to say it properly in English the way Malay express its Islamic expressions.