The verse

To cross the river, envy not the passing raft;First sink your pillars deep where dark waters laugh.A bridge well-founded stands a thousand years of weather—The night-built float will never see the autumn's craft.

Reading

This lot bids you first sink the bridge's piers deep beneath the unseen current, so the span may long endure. Tend the foundation, not the quick crossing; the true work lies underwater where none can see—no fortune is promised, only the depth of what you ground.

The temple keeper adds

A kind sign. The god nodded — small, but real.

[ Draw another at the temple ][ Keep a traffic omamori ]