There’s Nothing New Under the Sun

For Sonnet 59, Shakespeare stole the often-attributed phrase,

“There ‘s nothing new under the sun”

from Ecclesiastes, which is included in both the Tanakh and the Christian Bible.

Nothing could reaffirm that sentiment more than that it be copied into a new literary work

published many centuries later.

If Shakespeare ironic theft doesn’t tell of the futility of being a writer,

I don’t know what does.

We struggle for fresh, innovative ways to say over and over again, what has already been said.

We trot out old ideas, old important observations, lessons learned and bridges burned.

We shine up the antiques of what we see as the best hopes and try to give them new light.

We do this,

following our own insatiable urge to try to put out there

that idea,

that hope,

that elusive illusion just one more time,

That things can get better.

That while what we are saying is not new under the sun,

That someday there will be something new.

Something newer and more beautiful

And that our attempt to twist a phrase to fit the world today

And find some kind of audience, large or small,

And reach one person,

And instill new hope,

New inquiry,

Share common ground,

Offer help through mutual understanding,

And somehow at least hope that our efforts,

Was worth at least something.

So we trot out the old ideas,

Shine them up,

Put a bow on them,

And re-offer the gift of something slightly new,

In the shadow of years and years of saying the same things

Over and over again.