Lao Tsu

She Stays in the Center


After talking for awhile, 
it is natural to become silent.


The windstorm does not last all morning. 
Heavy rains do not fall all day.


Movement and stillness alternate. 
Silence and sound follow each other.


Only human beings try to make things last forever. 
In so doing, they precipitate change.


Trying to hold onto their riches,
they lose them.


Trying to hold onto their successes,
they unexpectedly fail.


Trying to keep their virtue perfect,
their desires take them by surprise.


The Taoist knows 
that everything that happens has a purpose.


So when something comes, she accepts it.
When it leaves, she lets it go.


She learns to trust life,
so life does not abuse her.


Even when the winds of change 
are whirling around her,


she stays in the center,
in the eye of the hurricane,


where everything is quiet
and completely still.