King Solomon’s Poetic Description of Aging and Death

First Published: 9th of March, 2021 by Patrick Carpen.

As we grow old, the novelty of many things wears off. Things that once excited us no longer do, but at the same time, new things might delight us. On the other hand, there is a saying that, “we do not lose interest in life because we age; rather, we age because we lose interest in life.” It’s all about perspective!

You’ve probably also heard that, “you are as young as you feel!” All of those statements hold some amount of truth. But, among life’s countless uncertainties, one thing is certain: death. As such, the concept of death has been a subject of much elaborations, speculations and discussions.

The human phenomenon of death has been poetically described by many writers in both prose and poetry. Below is a very artistic and poetic description of aging, death and the dying process by the biblical King Solomon.

Copied from Ecclesiastes 12 of the Bible.

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;

2While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:

3In 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,

4And 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 musick shall be brought low;

5Also 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:

6Or 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.

7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.