Gulf

Know how to be forceful,
Without losing careful sensitivity.
Flow with the streaming life,
Let life pour through you.

Unstoppable, finding your way,
Innocent and open.

We see the bright,
Because of the dark.
We reflect the patterns.
Be a clean mirror, live truthfully,
Sounding and echoing the infinite.

Accept praise,
Keep humble balance.
Find your lowest level.
As water does, so does the tao.
Percolating up, evaporating into clouds,
Raining down. Everything returns to unmarked forms.

When a block becomes a letter, it is useful.
The wise use their words well, but say little.
Keep starting over cleanly.

Gulf Stream. The great, warm ocean current which flows out of the Gulf of Mexico (whence its name) and, passing by the eastern coast of the United States, is, near the banks of Newfoundland, deflected across the Altantic to modify the climate of Western Europe as far north as Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. It washes the shores of the British Isles.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1963, pg. 423.