was browsing jason mraz's website and came across his journal, in which he cited an excerpt from chapter 2 of laotzu's tao de ching that i found quite to my liking:

故有無相生，難易相成，長短相形，高下相傾，音聲相和，前後相隨

Being and non-being are born of each other,
Difficulty and ease form one another,
Long and short mutually define,
High and low to each other incline,
Tone and voice as one align,
Front and back each other bind.

--translation by Patrick Byrne

review has it that, in order to achieve a poetic flow, byrne has sometimes deviated from the true and original meaning of the tao de ching. it makes me think about the work i've done, and the complex issues in translating works that are rich in both content and literary value.

tough trade, but i still like my pretty words.