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Table of Contents 1. The Best Christmas Present in the World I II III Working with the text 1. The Best Christmas Present in the World I I spotted it in a junk shop in Bridport, a roll-top desk. The man said it was early nineteenth century, and oak. I had wanted one, but they were far too expensive. This one was in a bad condition, the roll-top in several pieces, one leg clumsily mended, scorch marks all down one side. It was going for very little money. I thought I could restore it. It would be a risk, a challenge, but I had to have it. I paid the man and brought it back to my workroom at the back of the garage. I began work on it on Christmas Eve. I removed the roll-top completely and pulled out the drawers. The veneer...

  8. Fire-Hymn The poem 'Fire Hymn' is composed by the poet 'Keki N. Daruwalia' who is the recipient of 'Sahitya Akademi Award1 and 'Commonwealth poetry Award1. Keki N. Daruwala is an Indo Anglian poet. He is a Parsi. He wrote poems in his own words. In this poam, the poet has presented a realistic scene of funeral rites performed after death at the burning ghat where dead bodies of Hinduism are burnt. Ons day the poet went with his father to a nearby burning ghat. There, he saw the unburnt dead bodies. In the second stanza of the poem the poet witnessed the immoral behaviour of the fire because dead bodies were not completely burnt. It was an immoral behavior of the fire. The poet's father said to him that he could witness half burnt fingers and how the bone remains that had not been burnt were left at the ghat. The poet then said that it seemed sometimes that fire forgot that it was dead. The poet disclosed his religion that he was a Zorastrian, which was ...

  Now the Leaves are Falling Fast In the second stanza the poet was frustrated by the behavior of selfish modern men. The poet explained that the messengers of death were present everywhere in different forms, to snatch human happiness. People show. the feeling of fake love to one another. Poet also said that the hands that were active once would become ice cold after death by which  he meant that the people who were alive today would die tomorrow. People had confined themselves. They were suffering from the sense of loneliness in which they lived and died. In the third stanza the poet talked about hundreds of dead bodies which were being carried in wooden coffins at the back of people by raising their arms stiffly and expressing sharp disapproval or criticism of humans because of their behaviour or actions. The dead people were going empty handed as they were mocking the false attitude of human beings. Perhaps they were saying that they were not taking away anything this worl...