^z 28th February 2023 at 8:16am
Richard Ropiequet wrote, ca. 1968:
| Human lives begin as diamonds do, Dull and rough like common pebbles. Some are large, blue-white, and perfect underneath; Most are small, off-colored, flawed. But all are precious, latent with a dazzling beauty. What is my life? It's taking my rough pebble, large or small, And working on it, year by year, Cleaving off this flaw and that, Polishing facets, one by one, Until, naked before the world, My true self stands revealed, Calm but proud, And adds its small but radiant brilliance To the smoldering fire of Man's emergence From his savage past. |
Ropiequet's poem was published in The Freeman, a journal of libertarian ideas published by Leonard Read's Foundation for Economic Education ("FEE"). The above rendering is from memory and may differ in minor details from the original; some of the scansion is flawed (and the language in the final lines is arguably marred by sexism), but the overall spirit of hope and love shines through.
Friday, April 30, 1999 at 19:57:54 (EDT) = 1999-04-30
(correlates: Comments on WhatIsMyLife, IncalculableWealth, MudAndCrystals, ...)