Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Rhyming Way

I found an old translation of the Tao Te Ching that includes rhyming sections - just like the original.  It also has the Chinese characters. I can't read the characters exactly, but sometimes you can make out the parallel pattern, and see which character means "way," for example.

I think the versification is too strained:
He who desireless is found
The spiritual of the world will sound.
But he who by desire is bound
Sees the mere shell of things around.
The chiming of rhymes
is sometimes less than sublime.

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