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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ECCLESIASTES, by                    
First Line: Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days
Last Line: Return unto god who gave it.
Subject(s): Creation; God; Religion; Theology


CAST THY BREAD UPON THE WATERS

CAST thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil

shall be upon the earth.
If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if

the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree

falleth, there it shall be.
He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds

shall not reap.
As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do
grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works
of God who maketh all.
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand:
for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they

both shall be alike good.

REMEMBER NOW THY CREATOR

REMEMBER now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not,

nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened,
nor the clouds return after the rain:
In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men

shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those
that look out of the windows be darkened,
And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding

is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of

music shall be brought low;
Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in

the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a
burden, and desire shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the
mourners go about the streets:
Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the
pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall
return unto God who gave it.





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