Omnipresence

When light broke into nothing
With a Bang that no ear heard
When Order sprang from Chaos
With the speaking of a Word
I AM there

When a single cell of Life
Oozed from a primal sea
And evolved in adaptations
To all life that came to be
I AM there

In the sunrise on the mountains
In the sunset on the sea
In the pain and joy of childbirth
In the prison—with the free
I AM there

When nail or phallus pierces
The flesh of innocence
And fire burns the children
In war’s heartless offence
I AM there

When sun warms the breast of earth
And life within it swells
When upon a bloody cross
Heaven enters hell
I AM there

In your deepest loneliness
Of homelessness and cold
Or in the silks of opulence
A voice of silence in your soul
I AM there

©2012, Qoheleth

Seasons Change

(Song Lyrics)

On a gray and dismal winter day,

A greening tender bud on a tree:

In the cold of winter, the first sign

Of the coming spring I see. 

Seasons change, just wait a while;

The pain that you feel will soon be gone;

But you must accept the fact

That pleasure, too, will pass;

For the seasons never last very long. 

The spring is coming around again;

The colors and the sounds of new life

Blend in a dance of pleasure and pain;

I feel both the harmony and strife. 

The summer brings carefree sleepy days,

In the mountains, by the ocean’s shore;

Priceless, yes, each moment in the sun,

For all too soon they will be no more. 

Sunny days are growing shorter now;

Autumn colors bursting into view;

It seems the leaves try to hold the sun,

Just as I am holding on to you. 

©1997, Stan Sanford

Qoheleth Haiku 3:1

 

Suzie Buchholz             

¹For everything there is a season,

and a time for every matter under heaven:

Thanks to Pete Seeger

Many know Qoheleth’s thought

The Byrds Turn Turn Turn

Only a season

Is what God allots to us

To succeed or fail

In a space of time

We have opportunity

As we move thorough space

It is God’s design

For all that he created

Its own time and place

A matter of time

What we do to meet our needs

For it’s about time*

God leaves nothing out

Nothing that fits his design

He gives each its time

Make the most of time

The present is all we have

No future nor past 

*See John Denver’s “It’s about Time”



Qoheleth Haiku 2:26

²⁶For to the one who pleases him God

gives wisdom and knowledge and joy;

but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping,

only to give to one who pleases God.

This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

The one pleasing God

The one who aligns himself

With God’s grand design

Not a despot king

Requiring subservience

Is God Almighty

The sinner is one

Who does not align himself

With God’s grand design

Wisdom, knowledge, joy

Come to those aligned with God

Fulfills life’s purpose

Where is there justice

Where one works and one profits

God is a just God

Qoheleth confronts

 Contemporary wisdom

That God is partial

Injustice abounds

Output of the human mind

Not the mind of God



Enough

The prophets have gone wealthy.

The power of the word is

Sacrificed to greed and gain

And power of the sword.

Caught in the instinct of the herd,

The shepherd of the sheep,

Drunk with the blood of innocents,

Have all gone to sleep.

No one seems to notice

The well may soon run dry.

If we don’t share the water,

Then we all may die.

What’s wrong with this picture?

We all want more stuff.

Do you think we’ll ever learn

When enough’s  enough

Insatiable our appetites,

The crowds cry out for more;

And technocrats provide the feast—

The wages of a whore.

We have got to make a change—

Pray to God there’s time—

A whole new way of thinking,

A total paradigm.

We have got share the world—

For some, this will be tough—

Taking only what we need and

Learn enough’s enough.

Politics can’t do it;

And the church and state agree.

If there is hope for a change,

It up to you and me.

© 2012 Stan Sanford



Qoheleth Haiku 2:24-25

²⁴There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink,

and find enjoyment in their toil.

This also, I saw, is from the hand of God;

²⁵for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

Understand the tone

And the writer’s perspective

To interpret him

Come through the back door

Looking at something backward

To lay hold of truth

After concluding

All of one’s toil is futile

It’s the best there is

The world’s perspective

Pleasure the purpose of life

Leaves life meaningless

This is God’s design

That we find pleasure in toil

Not for pleasure’s sake

Purpose lies in God

Living life by his design

There life has meaning

Monotheism

Ultimate reality

All things are of God

Qoheleth Haiku 2:23

²³For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation;

even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

At the journey’s end

There is no inn or hostel

Where one may find rest

One needs a Sabbath

As the Creator rested

So must creation

When we hope to find

Something of value in our work

We’re disappointed

We cannot escape

The reality of pain

Even with morphine

If work’s for work’s sake

Work has no point for working

And it does not work

Qoheleth Haiku 2:22

²²What do mortals get from all the toil and strain

with which they toil under the sun?

In the course of life

Of necessity we ask

Is my life worth it

Pyramids crumble

And disappear in the sands

From which they derived

Can we really gain

Any real lasting value

From all our labors

Mountains disappear

In the mantle of the earth

And we built to last

Given enough time

Traces of humanity

Will cease to exist

Work amounts to zilch

Something to occupy time

Of no real value