Can you hold fast to your soul,
and not let it wander?
Can you soften your breath
and be supple, as a baby?
Can you clear the dust of your inner mirror?
Can you serve and govern without cunning?
Can you accept all the world gives and takes away?
Can you understand without certainty?
To give birth, to nourish,
to rear without possessing,
to do the work and claim no merit,
to lead without ruling:
this is profound virtue.