Poem: "Diminishing Cycles"

[ysabetwordsmith]

Welcome to new prompter the_vulture whose prompt about the Chinese five elements led to this poem.  I happened to be researching Aikido last night, so its principles of balancing energies and draining the violence out of a conflict also contributed.  So did Taoism.  This poem is today's extra freebie.  (I still need to choose a regular freebie.)

Diminishing Cycles

In the forge,
fire melts metal.

In the carver's hand,
metal cuts wood.

In the mountains,
wood crumbles earth.

In the valleys,
earth dams water.

In the rain,
water quenches fire.

The elements are opponents,
not opposites.

To follow their pattern
is to arrive at the center.

The end of motion is tranquility.
The end of conflict is peace.

This is the Way that cannot be told,
only followed.