Twenty-Seven
Tao is the only
glue to hold each other fast
within each other.
Care brings our Tao. One
learns another, and both teach
each other. The crux
of the mystery
is how we allow our care
to dwindle, how we
allow confusion
to arise, how the Tao
is no longer seen.
Go back. Go back. Walk
without tracks. Solve your sums by
counting those who care.
/////
Thirty
Know what is enough
in order to have enough.
Give away the rest.
Force soon loses strength.
The great falls, water’s nature,
finds the calming pool.
What needs to be done,
do. What needs your love and
protection, protect,
as protection is
born in love. Give desire
to the Tao; give love,
your open door, to
good and bad alike, without
collapsing the house.
/////
These poems were originally published in the book Eighty-One Plus One: A Collection of Poems based on the Tao Te Ching, by Steven Klepeis, 2022.
Steven P. Klepeis grew up in upstate New York and holds an M.A.T. from SUNY, New Paltz, NY (1982.) After working many years in Risk Management in New York and Louisiana, he followed a job to New Mexico in 2016 where he currently resides. He started writing poetry seriously in the early 1970’s and has published Brooklyn and After and Poems 1973-1987 (2021,) and Eighty-One Plus One (2022.) He wrote New Poems, his third book, over 2021-22. His fourth book, El Rio, a collection of physical and spiritual adventures while fishing and exploring various rivers, creeks and streams in the Northern, Southern and Western U.S. is published.
Lightwood 