Tao Te #76 ~ Life / Death

Newborns are supple
their muscles flexible
the dying are stiff
their muscles tense

trees begin as flexible saplings
grasses wave in the wind easily
early in life

yet time marches on
and soon softness is gone
oxydization crumbles all to dust
just as aging parents lose their lust

life is epitomized
by the soft and pliable
death is demonstrated
by the hard and the dry

the key to victory
is found in flexibility
the strongest army
relies on intelligence
the weaker army
relies on brute strength

the soft reed bends in the wind
the mighty oak cracks with a gust
thus the wisest understand the strength of the soft
knowing that the rigid will soon be crushed