Chuang Tzu said: "Tao gives me this toil in manhood, this repose in old age, this rest in death." Swiftly and soon the golden sun goes down, The blue sky wells afar into the night. Tao is the changeful world's environment; Happy are they that in its laws delight. Tao gives me toil, youth's passion to achieve, And leisure in life's autumn and decay. I follow Tao -- the seasons are my friends; Opposing it misfortunes come my way. Within my breast no sorrows can abide; I feel the great world's spirit through me thrill, And as a cloud I drift before the wind, Or with the random swallow take my will. As underneath the mulberry-tree I dream, The water-clock drips on, and dawn appears: A new day shines on wrinkles and white hair, The symbols of the fulness of my years. If I depart, I cast no look behind: Still wed to life, I still am free from care. Since life and death in cycles come and go, Of little moments are the days to spare. Thus strong in faith I wait, and long to be One with the pulsings of Eternity. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HENRY MOORE'S STATUE AT LINCOLN CENTER by KAREN SWENSON THE NIGHT MAIL NORTH (EUSTON SQUARE, 1840) by HENRY CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL THE SCARECROW by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE THE WILDERNESS TRANSFORMED by PHILIP DODDRIDGE MURMURINGS IN A FIELD HOSPITAL by CARL SANDBURG AN ELEGIAC BALLAD by HANNAH COWLEY OLNEY HYMNS: 28. JESUS HASTENING TO SUFFER by WILLIAM COWPER |