Liu Shahe Quote

The saws are sawing wood,
But wood is also sawing the saws.
Thus saws are becoming dull —
The more they are sharpened the frailer they get,
And eventually they break.

The wood sawn into boards
is fashioned into furniture.
Saws just break
And are discarded.

The Red Azalea: Chinese Poetry Since the Cultural Revolution (University of Hawaii Press, 1990) by Edward Morin, p. 41, Collected Poems, A Philosophy of Saws, 1972