With the Passage of Time

"不欲琭琭如玉. 珞珞如石."
(Don’t strive for the glamour of jade, 
but rather seek to be as plain and solid as a stone.)
      –from Verse 39 of the Tao Te Ching

heartwood cracks
the brittle branch snaps
while the supple ones live on through the storm

but a soft stone crumbles away
muddying the stream
while the hardest ones become smoother than jade