Chapter 27அதிகாரம் 27 பொறுமை Patience

Once milk has been set with a starter, even if no one watches it, time gives the curd.

She who splits a seed open to look will not see the sprout; she who covers a seed and leaves it will see it.

Those who chew sugarcane know its sweetness; those who cut it up and swallow it taste nothing of it.

All the while the fish is biting at the hook, the finger gives it line and does not pull it back.

The wing does nothing but cover the egg; it does not call out to wake it.

Those who rage at a tangled thread cut it; in the patient watcher’s hand, it comes undone.

In water that is churning, the fish cannot be seen; in water that has settled, it can be.

A heart that knows keeps loving watch over those who do not know and bears with them; the weariness is that heart’s own.

A fruit tree gives to those who throw stones; forbearance gives, without killing, to those who throw words.

Wounding words can provoke a deadly answer. Forbearance gives without striking back.

He who sits in the shade says to those walking through fire, ‘Stand still.’ Why?

The command is to halt where they are, still inside the fire.