Coal and Diamond

Said the coal to a diamond

My stuff is so vile, I am less than dust

While your gleam rends the mirror’s heart.

My darkness lights the chafing-dish

Before I am incinerated. A miner’s boot

Tramples my head, covering me with ashes.

Do you know my life’s gist?

A condensed sliver of smoke, transformed

Into a single spark, in feature and nature

Star-like, your every facet a splendor,

Light of the king’s eye, the dagger’s jewel.

Friend, be wise, the diamond replied, assume

A bezel’s dignity! Loam strives to harden

To fill my bosom with radiance. Burn

Because you are soft. Banish fear and grief.

Be hard as stone, be a diamond.

By Allamah Muhammad Iqbal

Source: poemhunter.com