the tao

'be like water', they said -
gentle, dainty, graceful,
seeping and flowing
through cracks,
shaping boulders
and pebbles
with its yielding softness,
dissolving
into the warm earth
without a trace;
but they forgot
the whipping waves
along a cliff's edge,
the riot of rain
bouncing off the ledge
into eager palms,
the gorging waterfall
scooping out hollows
in your gut,
the ruthless tsunami
crashing into walls
and staunch warehouses
that must be taken;
they simply forgot
how water becomes
and feeds
what the landscape needs,
flowing effortlessly
into the otherness
that must be quelled
and leveled
without reason.