"Soul Food" by Ursula Le Guin

I just wanted to share that poem from class today with you all, since I didn't make copies:

Soul Food

Everybody on earth knowing
that beauty is beautiful
makes ugliness.

Everybody knowing
that goodness is good
makes wickedness.

For being and nonbeing
arise together;
hard and easy
complete each other;
long and short
shape each other;
high and low
depend on each other;
note and voice
make the music together;
before and after
follow each other.

That's why the wise soul
does without doing,
teaches without talking.

The things of this world
exist, they are;
you can't refuse them.

To bear and not to own;
to act and not lay claim;
to do the work and let it go;
for just letting it go
is what makes it stay.


On the subject of yin/yang, you may be interested in checking out this page someone made addressing some of the themes in Left Hand. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will find a pretty neat breakdown of aspects of Gethenian society into the yin/yang dichotomy.