Ecclesiastes Of A Youth: Part 5 Poem by Yehoshua Shim'onai

V:

Now I know that none’s righteous,
No one’s upright under heaven;
Apart from the Lord, none is virtuous
And without His forgiveness, none’s clean.

I also learned that laughter’s’ folly
And sorrow for one’s weakness’ better;
Senseless is the foolish revelry
But a tear in repentance’s much wiser!

Ev’rything under heaven’s worthless
And senseless are all toils in this world;
Apart from God, all is meaningless
And without Him, all’s undefined and cold.

Even sacrifices are senseless;
All man-made cleansing rites, God hated
For without sorrow those are useless
And without tears, repentance’s wicked.

So with these things, I cried out to God,

“O Father, against You have I sinned
And all my ways to You are sinful;
On Your holy word I have not leaned
And to You I have been unfaithful! ”