Meaningless?

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”
What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3, NIV)

We sweat. We strain.
Our bodies ache, we’re wracked with pain.
Hammerstein understood The Teacher,
knew the spirit of TGIF.
Toil is toil.
Truth at least
for millennia
between two writers.
Bodies ache from carpal tunnel.
Meaningless is meaningless.
Sometimes, though, it’s not.
Did The Teacher think his toil meaningless?
Did Hammerstein?
I don’t.

God, you make meaningful my meaningless life.
You endue tedium with consequence.
Grant me the humility to grant you control and
dominance.

Excerpt from A TIME FOR VERSE