Why Bother?

What has been done, they say it will be done,
that this short life is transient and vain,
that there is nothing new under the sun.
We die, then someone else does it again.

Death surely comes to claim us, one and all,
and prize possessions crumble and corrode.
The rich and mighty won't avoid the fall
while others might not get their wages owed.

Why bother, one may ask, if what we do
is, in the end, a futile exercise?
If there is nothing that's unique and new
should we sit back and become paralyzed?

No, live this day as if it is your last,
and take in life as a divine repast!