Poem: Changes 64/Before Completion

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The transition from disorder to order
Is not yet complete—
You walk with the caution of a fox

Over rotten ice,
Ears tuned to the cracking of the ice
Or a rumble from below.

As mother nature
Puts the knife to your back,
You glide circumspectly across the safe spots.

Fire over water
Is the image before the transition,
Where everything settes into place.

If you wish to achieve an effect
Investigate the nature of the force
In question and ascertain its proper place.

If you bring these forces to bear on target,
They will have the desired effect
And completion will be achieved.

But to handle external forces properly,
You must arrive at the correct standpoint yourself.
Only from this vantage can you work.

You brakes the wheels.
The time to act has not yet come.
You must have a vehicle

To make the crossing
—Patience in the highest sense—
Means putting on the brakes.

A new situation must be created.
You engage the energies of able helpers
So this fellowship can take the decisive step

And cross the great water
Into the Devil's Country.
The sun shines forth in redoubled beauty

And the new era appears
All the more glorious by contrast
With the misery of the old.

We must be in heaven.
I don't see many people,
But the animals are all here, reporting for duty.
---o0o---

Poem: Changes 63/After Completion

1

The transition from confusion to order is completed
And everything is in its proper place.
Even in particulars

—When perfect equilibrium has been reached—
Any movement may cause order.

In transition from the old to the new time,

Indifference is the root of all evil.
Take thought of misfortune
And arm yourself against it in advance.

2
The finest clothes turn to rags.
Be careful all day long.
While man sees what is before his eyes, God looks into the heart.

3
After crossing a stream
Your head can get into the water
Only if you are so imprudent as to turn back

As long as you move forward
And do not look back,
You escape the danger.

With each glance
You're tempted to sneak
You remember the woman with no name—

Lot's Wife—
Standing in the hail
Of fire and brimstone.

She glanced back
At Gomorrah and turned
Into a pillar of salt.

---o0o---

Poem: Changes 62/Preponderance of the Small

Small things may be done
Great things should not be done
The flying bird brings the message

It is well to remain below
Great good fortune
A bird should not try to surpass itself

And fly into the sun
It should descend home
To the earth and its nest

---o0o---

Poem: Changes 61/ Inner Truth

1

The wind blows over the lake.
The water's surface ripples as the visible

Effects of the invisible appear.

2
Pigs and fishes are the least intelligent
Of all animals and therefore
the most difficult to influence.

The force of inner truth must grow strong
Before its influence

Extends to such creatures.

With people as intractable and difficult
To influence as a pig or a fish,
Success depends on the right approach.

3
A crane calls

In the shade.
Its young answers.

4
I have a good goblet.
We share

A glass of wine.

5
You find a comrade.
Now he beats the drum, now he stops.
Now he sobs, now he sings.

No matter how close you are,
If your center of gravity
Depends on them, you are tossed

To and fro between joy and sorrow.
The moon is nearly full.
The team horse goes astray.

6
The cock is dependable.
It crows at dawn,
But it cannot fly itself to heaven.

---o0o---

Poem: Changes 60/Limitation

A lake is hemmed in.
When more water floods in it overflows.

If we live economically in normal times
We are prepared for times of want.

It is necessary however to set limits
Even upon limitation.

Confucius says: where disorder develops,
Words are the first steps.


If germinating things are not handled
With discretion their perfection is impeded.

When the time for action has come,
The moment must be quickly seized.

Just as water first collects in a lake
Without flowing out, it is certain


To find an outlet when the lake is full.
And so it is in our lives.


Hesitation is good
Until the time for action arrives.


Once the obstacles to action have been removed,
Hesitation leads to disaster as the window closes.



---o0o---

Poem: Changes 59/Dispersion

The wind blows over water,

Dissolving it into foam and mist.

The king approaches his temple.

The sacred music

And splendor of the ceremonies

Arouse a strong tide

Of emotion shared in unison

By our hearts,

Awakening our consciousness

To the origin of all creatures.

In common cause,

All barriers dissolve.

When a boat crosses a great stream,

When the wind drives over the water,

The call goes out: all hands on deck!

---o0o---

Poem: changes 58/Progress

1
There will be progress
At the end of the line.

There will be good fortune
if you have inward harmony.

Occasions for repentance will disappear.
You will have no more regrets.

2
Sometimes you forget and trust
A person who would injure you.

3
The airs of spring begin to blow
And the vapours rise and descend again.
---o0o---

Poem: Changes 57/The Gentle

1
The wind that scatters the gathered clouds
leaves the sky clear and serene

a penetrating clarity of judgment
thwarts the dark and hidden motives

a strong leader uncovers and breaks up
the intrigues which shun the light of day

by an influence that never lapses
less striking to the eye

than those won by surprise attack
but more enduring and complete.

2
Only when the insidious influence
works always in the same direction

can the object be attained
the winds follow one upon the other

the penetration of the wind
depends upon its relentlessness

in advance
and in retreat.

3
Gentleness is taken to the point of indecision
and one does not act resolutely

a thousand doubts crop up
as you play out the what if scenarios

resolute discipline is far better
than irresolute license

at times one has to deal with hidden enemies
—intangible dark and nefarious—

that slink into dark corners
and affect people by suggestion

you must trace these things back
to the secret crevasses

to determine the nature of the threat
and then delete the influences

when these influences are exposed
they lose their power over people

deliberation brings fresh doubts and scruples
when you are unable to act

no beginning, but an end
before the change and after the change.
---o0o---

Poem: Changes 56/The Wanderer

1
The mountain stands still
Above it fire rises up—

Strange lands and separation
Are the wanderer's lot

When home is the road
Caution and reserve protect you from evil—

2
The fire on the mountain
Races on to new fuel

Like the wanderer
Who comes to an inn

The inn burns down
And the stranger in a strange land

Has no one left —CODE RED—
Circumstances cause us to seek

Our place in foreign parts
Like when a bird's nest burns up—

And for the rest
Of her days

She seeks a home
She never finds.
---o0o---

Poem: Changes 55 /Fullness

Plots and intrigue shade us
Like a solar eclipse.
Darkness is on the wane
As humanity coalesces,
Marching to civilization.
Just when things look brightest,
You remember the decline will follow.
You want to be the midday sun
Gladdening everything under heaven,
But achieve the opposite
With your reverse Midas touch.
Sometimes you lay down the law
And sometimes you enforce it:
You want to be the master of all
But lose your family
And find yourself alone
In the dim light
Under a pale paring of the moon
Walking on a dark road into the west.
---o0o---

Poem: Changes 54/Marrying Maiden

1

Thunder over the lake—
We understand the transitory

All too well

In light of the eternity of the end
Thunder stirs the lake's water
Which follows it in shimmering waves

Like a woman tracks her man
If we drift along we come together

And part as the day determines

2

A husband and wife can work together

Like a pair of eyes
But the one-eyed man is able to see

3
The woman holds the basket but there is no fruit
The man stabs the sheep but no blood flows
The sacrifice to ancestors and harvest offerings

Are superficial
The woman holds the empty basket
The man stabs a slaughtered sheep—

Just to preserve the forms
A soulless cleaving to the rules
In a marriage built on sand.

---o0o---

Poem: Changes 53/Gradual Progress

The path rises high
Toward heaven
Like the flight of wild geese

Leaving
Earth
Behind.
---o0o---

Poem: Changes 52/Keeping Still

1
The mountain is the youngest child
Of heaven and earth
Striving ever upward

And simultaneously tumbling down

Like the volcanoes
That surround me

2
It is difficult to bring quiet to the heart
Stillness is a state of polarity
With motion as its complement

True quiet means keeping still
When the time comes to keep still
And going forward

When the time comes to go forward
The end and the beginning of movement
Buddhism strives for rest

Through an ebbing away
Of all movement in nirvana
The Book of Changes holds that rest

Is a state of polarity
With movement as its complement
When you have thus become calm

You turn
To the outside world
To the mountains standing close together

3
The beginning is a time of few mistakes
When you are still in harmony
Not influenced by obscuring interests and desires

You see things as they really are
Like the man who plays
The Blue Guitar

4
A person who halts at the beginning
As long as they have not abandoned truth
Finds the way

But resolve is needed to prevent drifting
The leg cannot move independently
It depends on body movement

If a legs stops
While the body is in motion
The body falls

5

The restless heart may be subdued by forcible means
But a smothered fire
Changes into acrid smoke

That suffocates as it spreads
Calmness must develop organically
From inner composure
---o0o---