The sage's way
Tao
is the way of water.

There must be water for life to be
and it can flow whereever.

And water, being true to being water
is true
To Tao.

Those on the way of Tao, like water
need to accept where they find themselves;
and that may often be where water goes
to the lowest places, and that is right.

Like a lake
the heart must be calm and quiet
having great depth beneath it.

The sage rules with compassion,
and his word needs to be trusted.

The sage needs to know like water
how to flow around blocks
and how to find the way through without violence.

Like water, the sage should wait
for the moment to ripen and be right;

Water, you know, never fights

it flows around
without harm.

-Tao Te Ching translated by Man-Ho Kwok, Martin Palmer, and Jay Ramsay