Rhyming Ecclesiastes: Chapter 4

Rhyming Ecclesiastes: Chapter 4

Oppression, Toil, Friendlessness

All the oppression, what I saw again,
when I looked out, occurring ‘neath the sun:
I saw the tears that the oppressed oft’ cried–
no comforter, they’ve; their oppressors’ side
was where all of the power did reside–
no comforter, they have. And I declared
the dead who’d died, already been interred,
are, than the living, surely happier,
who’re still alive. But better than them both
is he, the one, that ne’er was given birth
who hasn’t seen the evil that’s been done,
no witness to that underneath the sun.

And I saw that all toil, achievement spring
from one’s man’s, of another, envying.
This too is meaningless, a vain pursuit,
to chase the wind. The folding hands of fools,
the method how they bring themselves to ruin.
One handful with tranquility preferred
to handfuls, two, with toil, how they were earned,
and further chasing after it, the wind.

Again I witnessed something ‘neath the sun,
was meaningless: there was a man, alone,
he neither had a brother or a son.
To his long toil, there never was an end
yet with his wealth his eyes were ne’er content.
He asked, “For whom is all my toil expelled
and, of enjoyment, why deprive myself?”
This meaningless, too–business, mis’rable.

Two are to be preferred to only one,
for all their labor, they have good returns:
if either of them ever would fall down,
the other’d help them up, they’re not alone.
But pity him who ever, downward falls,
to help them up, they have no one at all.
As well, if two, together, would lie down,
they will keep warm, but how, if they’re alone?
Though one may, overpowered, be, two can
defend themselves, a cord wove of three strands
is strong and is not broken easily.

Advancement Is Meaningless

It’s better to, a poor but wise youth, be
than him, an old king, foolish, who can’t heed,
no longer knows how, to, a warning, yield.
From prison to the kingship, where
the youth is from, or maybe, he, born there,
in poverty, his kingdom, there within.
I saw that all who lived, walked ‘neath the sun,
the youth, they followed, the successor, king’s.
Of all the people who, them, did precede
there was no end. But those who, they’d succeed,
with the successor, they became displeased.
This meaningless, too, chasing after wind.