2.
Heaven (that sky level above the human head)-down below (lower level):
public opinion—that clear, plain back & forth between people—
firing arrows from the mouth—sure of
admired beauty—picture someone wearing a ram’s horn headdress—
has this…
efforting—like lifting up an elephant—
admired beauty—picture someone wearing a ram’s horn headdress,
cleverly lopping off a basket of and therefore defining
disdained ‘ugliness’—an inferior-hearted evil right outside, touching the house—
already… finishing it in the womb.
Public opinion—that clear, plain back and forth between people—
firing arrows from the mouth—sure of
traditional virtue—offering up a goat while back and forth speaking words that are emerging from a mouth like slaves or criminals branded by a chisel—
has this…
efforting—like lifting up an elephant—
traditional virtue—offering up a goat while back and forth speaking words that are like slaves or criminals, branded by a chisel, emerging from a mouth,
cleverly lopping off a basket of and therefore defining
the husk of the initial protective bud casing—the sepal—but not really the true inner flower of
traditional virtue—offering up a goat while back and forth speaking words that are emerging from a mouth like slaves or criminals branded by a chisel—
already… finishing it in the womb.
Anciently, for ten generations, this therefore lightly hits and leaves a mark of reason:
Flesh-and-blood, meat-holding Being…
Nothing—no one dancing with long tails flowing from their wrists—nope never, no way, nowhere, nohow Not-Being:
mutually—like a seen tree and the eye seeing it—
birthing—a bud sprouting from the ground;
solidly hard—like the dried yellow earth of Han where short-tailed birds can’t find food…
changeable—going from saying ‘don’t’ as seriously as blood on a blade to shining as sunny as the sun above:
mutually—like a seen tree and the eye seeing it—
completing—that final nail in the weapon on a pole;
lengthy as hair that has to be tied with a brooch…
short as an arrow that fits in a bean-shaped food container:
mutually—like a seen tree and the eye seeing it—
shaping with measuring lines of hair’s breadth;
high above—a two-story building in the city outskirts…
down below—lower level:
mutually—like a seen tree and the eye seeing it—
leaning toward one another, head askew, as if an arrow or a fork is between them;
one tone—a note from someone’s mouth…
many sounds—hitting chimes with one’s right hand and hearing them:
mutually—like a seen tree and the eye seeing it—
harmonizing as a mouth organ;
forward—the front place in battle where a step could mean one’s foot gets cut off as punishment…
being behind—what remains afterward when stepping slowly, only one’s left leg leading the way, leaving the tiniest of silk thread footprints—one’s descendants:
mutually—like a seen tree and the eye seeing it—
accompanying one another—walking single file a while on a road near soil mountains, stopping a while.
The sun—walking across the sundial a while, stopping a while—sees indeed
this means…
the grounded sage—listening and speaking, standing connected to earth as well as the heavens,
that person:
dwelling—staying, as someone at home at the tea table, chaste and unmarried, following something slowly from behind with tiger fur…
Nothing—no one dancing with long tails flowing from their wrists—nope never, no way, nowhere, nohow Not-Being…
efforting—like lifting up an elephant…
has this…
one’s personal, manual role—what one does with a weapon, a flag, or a pen;
on a public road, practicing—moving with…
the husk of the initial protective bud casing—the sepal—but not really the true inner flower of
speaking—words, like slaves or criminals branded by a chisel emerging from a mouth…
has this…
teaching—instructing a child in counting or divination, lightly hitting with a teaching cane;
the myriad scorpion medicine-dancing Ten Thousand
Things cut off—all matter external to oneself like cows etc.
getting up and going to work
here—this place where that yellow bird lives around the Yangtze and Huan Rivers—
and yet now, bearded, you…
the husk of the initial protective bud casing—the sepal—but not really the true inner flower of
declining into phraseology—ruling the city outskirts like a hand from above wielding that chisel used to mark slaves and criminals;
birthing—a bud sprouting from the ground—
and yet now, bearded, you…
the husk of the initial protective bud casing—the sepal—but not really the true inner flower of
Flesh-and-blood, meat-holding Being;
efforting—like lifting up an elephant—
and yet now, bearded, you…
the husk of the initial protective bud casing—the sepal—but not really the true inner flower of
expecting that will be holding one’s heart-core like a mother;
real work—laboring with the force from a bladed tool, an arm, or a plough—
completing—that final nail in the weapon on a pole—
and yet now, bearded, you…
absent as sticks that were tied together in a bundle to start a fire—’ffft!’—not
abiding—dwelling where birthed, sitting over ten mouths.
That is to say, this particular grown man with a hairpin and public courtesy name…
essentially and only—like the heart of the ‘short-tailed bird’—
“absent as sticks that were tied together in a bundle to start a fire—’ffft!’—not
abiding—dwelling where birthed, sitting over ten mouths…”
the sun—walking across the sundial a while, stopping a while—sees indeed
this means:
the husk of the initial protective bud casing—the sepal—but not really the true inner flower of
withdrawing like a person with a mouth or cave between their legs—leaving.
The Dào of Lâozî 