A DREAM, A SHADOW

.

From of old it has been

that

the mirth of folly

is brief,

giddy joy lasts but a moment.

Though
his pride
reaches to the heavens
so that
his head may touch the clouds,
the fool,
like his own dung,
will perish forever;
those who have seen him
will say,
"Where is he?"

Like a dream
he flies away,
no more to be found,
banished
like a vision of the night.
The eye that saw him
will not see him again;
his place will look on him
no more.

The fool is of few days
and full of trouble.
Like a flower,
he springs up,
then withers away;
like a fleeting shadow,

the fool

cannot long endure.

The fool is like a breath;
his days are fleeting,
like a shadow.

When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me,
'til I entered the sanctuary of God;
then
I understood the final destiny of fools ...

As a dream

when one awakes,

so when you arise,

O LORD,

you will despise

the folly of the fool

as fantasies.