Since I received unusually kind words offline about my last attempt at obfuscate poetry writing, here's another one.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use warnings;

# 1. The Way
#
# The Way that can be experienced is not true;
# The world that can be constructed is not real.
# The Way manifests all that happens and may happen;
# The world represents all that exists and may exist.
#
# To experience without abstraction is to sense the world;
# To experience with abstraction is to know the world.
# These two experiences are indistinguishable;
# Their construction differs but their effect is the same.
#
# Beyond the gate of experience flows the Way,
# Which is ever greater and more subtle than the world.

@verses=(sub{$T="The"; $e="experience";$n="and";$w="(/".
"w"."a/)?'".";':'.'";@wa=("Way","${e}d","true");@wo =qw(
world constructed real);$ws=sub{lc(substr($_[0][0],0,2))
};@ww=map{$ws->($_)}map{qq/w$_/}qw/a o /;my@o=map{"$T ".
$_->[0]. " that can be $_->[01] is not $_->[2]".eval $w;
}@ww;@wa[1,2]=qw(manifest happen);@wo[1,2]= qw(represent
exist);$may=sub {($o,$i,$p,)=@_;"$T $o ${i}s all that ".
${p}."s $n may ${p}"};push@o,$may->(@$_).eval($w)for@ww;
@o;},sub{$f="ff";$s=' ';$t="To";$tt=lc($T); $exp = sub {
$t ." $e with$_[1] abstraction is to ${_[0]} $tt world".
(($_[1])?";":'.');};($exp->("sense","out"),$exp->("know"
,""),"${T}se two ${ e}s are indistinguishable;",join( $s
,"${T}ir", "construction", "di${f}ers", "but", "${tt}ir"
,"e${f}ect", "is $tt same."))},sub{reverse(join($s,join(
$s,map({join('',reverse split(//,$_))}qw"hcihW  si  reve
retaerg dna erom eltbus naht"),),$tt,"$wo[0]."),join ($s.
$tt.$s,"Beyond",join($s,reverse(split($s, qq(flows $e o).
qq!f gate!))),join('',$wa[0],',')),)});foreach$v(@verses)
{foreach $line ($v->()) { print $line, "\n" }print "\n";}

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In reply to Tao Te Ching #1: The Way by webfiend

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