Ecclesiastes 1:2-11

Here is my first very rough draft of Ecclesiastes. I am not a Bible scholar, nor do I know Greek or Hebrew. I simply used an interlinear Bible and a Strong's Dictionary, and compared several english translations. What this may lack in accuracy it will more than make up for in poetry, and transparency. Please let me know what you think about it, (especialy if you are a Bible scholar):

Vanity

by Solomon

“Vanity of vanities,” he says, the Preacher,
     “Vanity of vanities! All vanity.”
What profit is to man in all his toil
     Which he is toiling under the sun?
Generation coming and generation going,
     But the earth for ages standing.
And he shines, the sun, and he goes, the sun;
     And to his place panting, shining, he’s there.
Walking to south,
     And turning to north,
     The wind circling, circling along;
     And on around him returns the wind.
All the rivers walk to the sea,
     Yet the sea, he’s not full.
     To the place where the rivers walk,
There they walk again.
All words are wearisome;
     He is not able, man, to arrange it.
     She is not satisfied, the eye, to see,
Nor is she filled, the ear, to hear.
What he became, he’ll become,
     And what he’s done, he’ll do.
     And there’s nothing new under the sun.
There is something which he says,
     “See this, it’s new”?
     Already it existed for ages
     Which were before us.
There is no memorial of the former ones;
     And also of the later ones who shall be,
     None there shall be for them memorial
     Among those who shall come later.


Copyright © 2011 David S. Robinson. Any part of this work may be transmitted, reprinted, or otherwise used in any form, so long as 1) I am clearly identified as the author, and 2) a link or URL to this site is included.