Nothing New Under the Sun #NaPoWriMo2017 #GloPoWriMo2017

I have seen all the things
That are done under the sun;
All of them are meaningless,
A chasing after the wind.
 
The wind blows to the south,
And turns to the north;
Round and round it goes,
Ever returning on its course;
What has been will be again,
what has been done will again be done.

Wisdom is better than folly,
As light is better than darkness,
The wise have eyes in their heads,
While the fool walks in the darkness;
But the same fate awaits both,
For all that man ever learns
Foolish errors shall be made again.

I have seen all the things
that are done under the sun;
all of them are meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired,
I refused my heart no pleasure;
My heart took delight in all my labours,
And this was the reward for all my toil:
When I surveyed all, that my hands had done,
Which I had toiled to achieve,
Yet there was nothing new under the sun.

What do people get for all the toil,
Anxious striving, as they labour under the sun?
All their days their work is grief and pain;
even at night their minds do not rest.

I saw everything was meaningless,
A chasing after the wind;
Nothing was gained under the sun.

Day 8 of Na/GloPoWriMo2017, and the official prompt at NaPoWriMo.net is to write a poem that relies on repetition of a phrase, or just a word. This poem draws on the verses of Ecclesiastes in the bible’s Old Testament.