Says the Sage to the Boy:
"You're mortal, you'll die.
Do not aim to live forever,
but rather learn how to pry
yourself free from the
stone settings of the rings
of your fellow men.
Freedom is to know thy path,
and be your own gem."

"My own gem?" replieth
the Boy to the Sage,
"Like a diamond? Flawless,
and timeless as age?
Indestructible and pure,
and radiant as the sun!
Of course that's what I strive for,
how can I become one?"

The Sage let out a sigh:
"Boy, you misunderstand
both the nature of the diamond
and the capacities of man.
You think you diamond is valued
due to an apparent lack of flaws,
but it's truly its persistence
that makes it precious over all."

"Its persistence?" asked the Boy,
with a scratch of his head.
"Surely, you must mean flawlessness,
or maybe, timelessness instead!

"Not so," returned the Sage,
"I'll explain as best I can,
 the true value of the diamond,
and the capacities of man."

"You see, a type of rock
is pushed far down below.
Through no fault of its own,
but away it must go.
It suffers darkness and heat
for an unspeakable time,
then it might just see daylight
if someone builds a mine."

"Then its picked at, and sliced up,
and cut just right.
By now you would think it the end
of the diamonds' plight.
But it sees tear shed and bloodshed,
and exchanged through many hands,
wears holes in many pockets,
and finds its ways through several lands."

"Desert storms, and avalanches,
burning rays and tides,
anvil hammers, furnaces,
it takes it all in stride."

"Like a boy sold into slavery,
who can later arise as a king,
Man's true potential,
his "flawless" nature,
is his strength to persist through anything."