The archaic word 'peace' consists of two graphs;

The first has two parts: the bamboo flute and

A growing plant; the second one depicts

Two opposite things brought together

Of the opposing sides operated between

The path of consensus is straight and smooth,

The ways of taking it are curved and crooked.

Now let's take a good look at the general gist

Of what the ancients meant by the term 'peace.'

The 12-key bamboo flute's construction is used

To complete things in full accord with

Musical harmonization, while the 24 solar periods

Arrange the annual list of the rural calendar.

As long as the musical tones and the calendar seasons

Intersect in their course between Heaven and Earth,

The Yin and Yang, day and night, the sage kings

Of high antiquity knew how to use them

In calculating the time of inception and

Completing the work in the fields, as well

As mapping out the general things. Thus,

Daytime they regarded as auspicious thing

While night as inauspicious. Now it is day,

Now it is night, as the alternation of Yin and Yang.

In dead night, when Yin is at extreme,

The day's birth comes; at noon, when Yang

Is at the brilliant height, night is conceived.

When day is in its prime, all feel contact

Between the Yin-and-Yang forces.

For the female and male, it is said, there are

A lot of orientations to generate things and

Make them take their proper placements,

So there evolve from these allocations

A good fortune and what is otherwise. Hence,

The ways of husband and wife, father and son,

Superior and inferior are distinguished in accord

With the nature of things -- all sorts of species.

Thus, Yin and Yang alternate in their spheres

Of doing right things and wrong; death and life

Are intertwined; all the myriad things

Are inseparably bound in their initial immaturity

And final completeness to establish

Peaceful coexistence where the opposite parts

Display goodwill and patience --

The signs of conscious maturity.