All Is Vanity



A generation comes and goes,
But the earth remains forever;
For certain only, the Lord knows,
What each of us will endeavor.

The sun rises and will go down,
Hastens to the place it rises;
Just as a king will wear a crown,
Other kingdoms he despises.

The wind blows south and blows north.
The wind goes around and round;
On its circuits, the wind goes forth,
While you hear the roaring sound.

All rivers run into the sea,
But the ocean is never full;
As the winds toss waves fancy-free,
And where the fish are bountiful.

All things are full of weariness,
Eyes and ears are not satisfied;
As labor brings on dreariness,
Things that are not identified.

What has been being what will be,
What has been done that will be done;
Without the sun how will you see,
All the work that ever was done.

Is there a thing of which it is said,
This is new but has been before;
About old times that had been fled,
Kept under wraps in a locked door.

No remembrance of former things,
Nor remembrance of what comes later;
Only God will know what it brings,
As the great communicator.

Copyright ©2023 Richard Newton Sherrer

About this poem

Everything is Futile Ecclesiastes 1:4-11

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Written on March 23, 2023

Submitted by sir_ricky on March 22, 2023

Modified on April 17, 2023

1:13 min read
2

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CXCX DEDE FXFX GHGH FIFI JKJK LBLB B
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,110
Words 245
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1

Richard Newton Sherrer

I was born and raised on a farm in Pennsylvania. It was a small family farm that was handed down through 8 generations of Sherrer men until my father; Newton just could not make a living from it any longer. He thought that I would make a better living away from the farm. So, I decided to join the Air Force in 1969 upon graduating from high school. I gained quite a bit of experience and insight on life while in the service. Even though I was only stationed on the east coast of the US, my Air Force career took me to Germany and Korea. After 20 years wearing of the blue uniform, I decided going in a different direction and found myself becoming very diverse in many different fields. Something still seemed missing to me after being separated from the service for about 10 years. The Air Force was a way of life for me, but really missed life in Korea. I found myself changing careers again. Poetry was an interest of his since my days in high school. With returning to the Lord, I felt motivated to write of my Christian beliefs. I started looking at Bible verses and reflecting on my own personal experiences. The Bible was found to be as true today as to when the various books were written. I could see much of what the Bible is teaching us as valid as every in modern time. It felt only natural to me on using his personal experience based on Bible verses and see much of my own life written in the Scriptures. God inspires me what to write about though. I do not claim to be an expert on God or the Bible. I am just a Christian who has become enlightened to write poetic verses from the Holy Scriptures. more…

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