Saturday, July 17, 2010

Ecclesiastes

I tried to free myself from dread-filled emotion.
I tried to free myself from slavish devotion
To the wayward ways of a cruel world filled with sin;
But the more that I tried the farther I fell in.

I tried to be wise, but it was no solution,
I tried to gain wealth, but it lead to confusion,
And then I tried power, but it's an illusion,
A rip-tide that leads to moral destitution.

And so I said that everything is vanity,
That this care-filled life is pointless activity,
A vast pathetic dance, a pathetic folly,
That there is no diff'rence between a dog and me.

All's a masquerade of deceit and deception.
My life, soon forgotten, will not rate a mention.

2 comments:

Dan Gurney said...

Your sonnet is a skillful summary of this book's rather bleak look at the human enterprise!

Jim714 said...

Thanks, Dan. There's an Ecclesiastes 2 coming up that isn't quite so stark.

Jim