Daodejing Chapter 14: strand upon strand

When you look,
You cannot see it.
It is invisible.
When you listen,
You cannot hear it.
It is silent.
When you grasp,
You cannot hold it.
It is elusive.
These three are indistinguishable.
They merge into the one.
From above it is not bright,
From below it is not dark,
It is strand upon strand,
Unnameable,
Returning to nothingness,
Form with no form,
Image with no substance,
Indistinct and indistinguishable.
When you face it,
You cannot see its front.
When you follow it,
You cannot see its rear.
Hold fast to the ancient Dao,
To master the here and now.
To understand
The beginning of antiquity
Is the binding thread of the Dao.

「視之不見名曰夷，聽之不聞名曰希，搏之不得名曰微，此三者不可致詰，故混而為一。其上不皦，其下不昧，繩繩不可名，復歸於無物。是謂無狀之狀，無物之象，是謂惚恍。迎之不見其首，隨之不見其後。執古之道，以御今之有。能知古始，是謂道紀。」

Mere words are insufficient to explain the subtle and profound mystery of the Dao, no matter how elegantly and eruditely they are combined with each other.

Rather than losing yourself in the pursuit of its complexity, better to take a step back and contemplate its simplicity: a single unbroken thread that stretches from the very dawn of antiquity and provides the key for understanding the present day.

Note
I took this image at Longhu (Dragon Tiger) Mountain, a famous Daoist site about ten miles south of Yingtan in Jiangxi Province. A great place to visit!