He was a King, a teacher, the wisest in the land Driven by a passion, just to know and understand He opened wide His eyes sought to see beyond the lies And found a world beyond His understanding Under the sun, He saw the vanity of vanities He bravely looked at life and saw futility Torn between the facts He saw and all he ever had believed Between His hopes and what He'd clearly seen He hoped it might be wisdom so He set himself to learn But found the more the knowledge the more sorrow and concern And so He turned to pleasure, to folly and to cheer But still His laughter, tasted of His tears Under the sun, it was all vanity of vanities In wisdom or in wine, He found futility In knowledge or in folly, for the wise man or the fool Hopelessness will always be the rule And yet there is a time for everything that's under heaven A time to run, a time to stand and fight So in the face of cold despair, no matter what seems right Remember, darkness drives us to the light Under the sun