Under the sun

Tune: House of the Rising Sun, plus bridge. For the tune, e-mail me and I will send it to you.

Vanity, futility, absurdity,
Under the sun’s cruel rays;
Meaningless, emptiness, pointlessness,
Is the sum of all our days.

The sun will rise, the sun will set;
Each day goes up and down.
To the south, then turning to the north,
The wind goes round and round.
No matter what you see, no matter what you hear,
What’s new today has long before been done.

Yesterday’s accomplishments and monuments
Will be forgotten always.

There’s a time that is set for everything
Under the blistering sun.
Every thing in its time is beautiful—
Until the mirage is gone.

A time to plant, a time to uproot;
A time to tear, then build;
Sometimes you laugh and strut in pride,
But later weep in guilt;
One day you’re deep in love, the next you burn with hate;
Make peace until again the sword you wield.

There’s a time to be born, and a time to die,
But when’s time to be reborn?

 

It’s better to be wise than to be a fool,
For the sun won’t burn as much.
Even then, no matter what you’ve done in life,
Your carcass will end up in a ditch.

If rich or poor, if hardworking
Or lazy as a log,
If kingly or most lowly,
If clean, or unclean hog,
Regardless where you’re born, how you’ve lived, or when you die—
The grave leaves you no better than a dog.

In our heart is a cry for infinity:
But why has God made it such?

 

Here beneath this dark sun, all is vanity;
So, lift your eyes above!
There you’ll see, above the sun, in the heavenlies,
Christ sits, throned in God’s love.

Of hidden wisdom and knowledge,
He is the treasury;
The body of all shadows,
Of God the mystery;
The What, Where, How and When, and above them all the Why:
Christ in you to be hope of glory.

Come exchange vanity for Life that’s real,
Life who brings you in Him into God.