Double Nines (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- The School of Mankind (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- The Beam (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- Definitions of True Love (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- Work Forces (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- The Eternal Brow (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- Double Nines (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- Judgment of Fictitious Standards (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- The Kings and Queens of Dust (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- Winning Words (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- Until the Return (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- Flowers and Runners (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- Masters (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- Evil All (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- A Lesson (Considering Ecclesiastes)
- The Aftermath (Considering Ecclesiastes)
I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:10,11
Double Nines
So distinguished sit the gentlefolk; they
rest like royalty upon cherry-toned chairs.
Bones skimpy, they place copper coins;
the penny-plea metaphorical of empty lives.
Are they God that they can
discover His mysteries alone and without succor?
All they do is idly yak:
“And what of Agamemnon’s suffering kinswoman killer?”
“Speaking of Clytemnestra so gore-steeped?
What of the misty marshes of Pal-ul-don?”
Despite their earnest games they come
to no conclusions but the double twos.
The doubles and everything: Heaven and
Hell, life and death – theology is thrilling.
Cold domino dots come by chance,
not so this Truth, this worthy end.
These tiles are symbolic of a
true trail paved by the Lord – proceed.
Minions, meanwhile, roll the bones, slipping
them monotonously through their ten fallen fingers.
They’ll not find Truth in chance;
they pack coins, stack tiles in compartments.
Someday soon we’ll find the matching nines.
Editor’s Notes:
The extended metaphor Ben uses here is from a version of dominoes called Mexican Train dominoes our family played a lot. We played a version that used dominoes up to double nines. If you can’t play a domino you have to draw a “bone” (extra domino) and put a penny on your train at which point anyone can play on it. The round starting with the double nine would be the last round played.
“Pal-ul-don” is a lost world type place in some of the Tarzan books.
- The Aftermath (Considering Ecclesiastes) - September 24, 2024
- A Lesson (Considering Ecclesiastes) - August 20, 2024
- Evil All (Considering Ecclesiastes) - August 6, 2024
Always good to read anything that Ben wrote!