Sovekammer, Vilhelm Hammershøi (1890)
Empty Chair
Why is there an empty chair by the bed
Is there more than what’s already been said
Of some awful thought which most surely dread
The fact that someone is really dead
Does not matter big or small, short or tall
But sooner or later we all must fall
Each will wear once the paltry saintly pall
While the lofty choir sings a pastoral
None should be eager for that final day
But live life in the best possible way
Dividing your time between love and play
Yet never praying forever to stay
Best that we can ask is our lives be good
Lives are temporary is understood
