Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.*
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.

If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.

Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;**
and everything will fall into place.

^{---
(*) ISABELLA MEARS says:
"With few words affirm the Self."
---
(**) EMILY DICKINSON says:
"A narrow wind complains all day how some one
treated him. Nature, like us, is sometimes caught
without her diadem."}

Nature uses few words:
when the gail blows, it will not last long;
when it rains hard, it lasts but a little while;
What causes these to happen? Heaven and Earth.

Why do we humans go on endlessly about little
when nature does much in a little time?
If you open yourself to the Tao,
you and Tao become one.
If you open yourself to Virtue,
then you can become virtuous.
If you open yourself to loss,
then you will become lost.

If you open yourself to the Tao,
the Tao will eagerly welcome you.
If you open yourself to virtue,
virtue will become a part of you.
If you open yourself to loss,
the lost are glad to see you.

"When you do not trust people,
people will become untrustworthy."

^---

Nature speaks little.
Hence a squall lasts not a whole morning,
A rainstorm continues not a whole day.
What causes these?
Heaven and earth.
Even [the actions of] heaven and earth do not last long,
How much less [the works] of humans?

Therefore one who follows Tao identifies with Tao,
One who follows te (nature) identifies with te (nature).
One who follows shih (loss) identifies with shih.
One who identifies with Tao is glad to be with Tao.
One who identifies with te is glad to be with te.
One who identifies with shih is glad to be with shih.
When you don't trust (the people) enough,
Then they are untrustworthy.

^---

(1) a scarcity (2) of words (3) is itself (4) natural (5) thus (6) whirling (7) winds (8) don't (9) last out (10) the morning (11) sudden (12) rains (13) don't (14) last out (15) the day

Nature doesn't make long speeches.
A whirlwind doesn't last all morning.
A cloudburst doesn't last all day.
Who makes the wind and rain?
Heaven and earth do.
If heaven and earth don't go on and on
certainly people don't need to.

The people who work with Tao
are Tao people,
they belong to the Way.
People who work with power
belong to power.
People who work with loss
belong to what's lost.

Give yourself to the Way
and you'll be at home on the Way.
Give yourself to power
and you'll be at home in power.
Give yourself to loss
and when you're lost you'll be at home.

To give no trust
is to get no trust.

^---

It is natural to speak only rarely
Violet winds do not last a whole morning
And torrential rains do not last a whole day.]

What is behind these occurrences?
[It is the heavens and the earth.]
And if the heavens and the earth cannot sustain
      things for long,
How much less the human being?

Thus those who are committed to way-making (dao)
      in what they do
Are on their way.
Those who are committed to character (de)
      in what they do
Achieve this character;*
While those who lose it
Are themselves lost.
Way-making is moreover enhanced by those
      who express character,
Just as it is diminished by those who
      themselves have lost it.

^{---
(*) HOMER's Odyssey says:
"The work of women dowered n wisdom...
To be expert in beautiful work:
to have good character."}