I'm so grateful for the Internet. Someone gave me this poem when I was in my late teens. I kept a copy, but couldn't find it today when I was thinking about it. Within minutes of searching "poetry" and "the stiff and unyielding," I was able to find the poem!
It is beautiful:
People are born soft and gentle.
When dead they are hard and stiff.
Plants are born tender and supple.
When dead they are brittle and dry.
Therefore the stiff and unyielding are disciples of death.
The soft and yielding are disciples of life.
The unyielding army cannot win.
The unbending tree will snap.
The hard and stiff will meet a fall.
The soft and supple will prevail.
—Tao Te Ching, verse 76
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