The Old Man at the Window

One of my very favorite Trail Thoughts is about what it is like to be an old man. The selection below from Ecclesiastes was written over 3000 years ago, but the imagery and language is as powerful and beautiful today as it was when it was first conceived.

THE OLD MAN AT THE WINDOW

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’— before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets.” —Ecclesiastes 12:1–5

Thousands of years have passed since Solomon wrote this description of old age, but there is nothing old about it. It is immediate and contemporary and we can see and feel the dusty street “where the grasshopper drags himself along.” (v5) Even if we are young, we can imagine, through this verse, what old age feels like.

The poet transports us back in time into the person of the old man and there we are, sitting in the shaded room by that same window, unable to hear the sounds of children playing in the street or the music of the organ grinder. At one time, that same old man was like one of the little children playing in the same street. And one day that same child outside the window will grow into the old man who looks out at a world where “songs grow faint.” (v4)