Before the Flame Dies

At Raffles Place Robinsons, circa 1964 

Today I received news that one of my dear friends was gravely ill. I had not seen him for almost 6 months and I thought nothing was amiss when he sent me some Whatsapp message last month to meet for coffee, when I was on a business trip to Thailand. He is a Singapore PR and married to a local lady. 

Today he sent me a chilling message ; he was gravely ill and my immediate thoughts and prayers went out to his young daughter and Singapore wife. He is a very clever businessman and ventured into many industries from the music in the 80s to early 2000s to engineering and then finally dabbling in the food business. He is currently in Europe seeking medical treatment and my thoughts and hopes are with his doctors and his family for them to stay strong during this crisis. 

My post today is to reflect on how suddenly things can turn for the worse at any time, and then we rue the times we missed to truly live life. This was the prime motivation for me to start this blog and I am happy to say that 13 years on, I am still at it, writing my views on life from my perspective as a small businessperson in a small island, as a father, friend, colleague,acquaintence and a right pain in the ass to some people.

Carpe Diem in Latin means to seize the day. Everyone reaches the end of his or her life. Some go earlier, some later. No ifs, no buts and definately no perhaps.The lucky ones go in their sleep, many will have illnesses with which they have to battle to the bitter end. How we end is not in our control. It never was, and never will be. 

Before the Flame Dies

Run old man in the pouring rain
Gasp in Air again,again 
Climb each summit with every step you take
See the magnificence which He had to make

Take time to be with your beautiful bride
Think of the tasks you did side by side
Laugh at our earnestness, our inner pain
One day we will never be here again

Go afar and meet old friends
Lets reminisce and be young again
Chide each other for our childish views
Let them know that we were once young fools. 
  
Soak again in those glorious rays
That once we took for granted oh so far aways
Run, jump  crawl and slide
We were there first, by the by. 

Lets eat the things we had when young
Laksa, Kway Teow and See Hum
Visit the field where we had our fun 
Hantam Bola, boys run,run run ! 
  
As the Flame glows ever weaker still
Poise ourselves for whatever, we will
Hold our heads high, you, me and them
For we once ruled here, Carpe Diem !