death - You Write

An Empty Chair

October 29, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

Thanks to my dear personal friend Edmund from Singapore who email this article to me. Please read this article first and we shall talk about the implications of the contents later. A man’s daughter had asked the parish priest to come and pray with her father. When the priest arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside his bed. The priest assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. “I guess you were expecting me,” he said. “No, who are you?” said the father. […]

Death the Leveller

March 13, 2017 FLAI40 Leave a comment

It must be in the year 1956 that I was first introduced to poet James shirley by my English Teacher at Victoria School, Singapore. I was 16 then but, even at that age I could understand the deeper meaning of this lovely piece of poetry. Please read this poem aloud and note the rhythm of the words and the perfectness of the stanzas. Note also that death has been personified as a human being and Death is a very fair person because he levels the playing field. Whether one is rich or poor, king or peasant, good or evil, the […]