Searcher or Lover?
The diamonds of knowledge deceive,
searching drains and enfeebles.

Its effort depresses,
while finding lifts with joy.

Discovery comes from love's permit
that ends the hunter's fear.

Being is blessed,
asking our amen.

Its needs embraced
to reclaim our innocence.

A lover takes the world to himself
letting it act through him.

Everything is his own,
everyone is himself.

Allowing surrenders himself
becoming divine.

His sacred "I am"
is for us to behold our glory.

When love is multifaceted as life,
we discover we are diamonds.


                                                                                                            ----Tom Stanks, in The National
                                                                                                          Library of Poetry, 1996