Diamonds in the Rough
Adamantine fundamentalists
with diamond-hard convictions
were never rationalists at all.
      How was an unreasoning bias
planted so firmly in that soul?
Perhaps it was the easy way
to escape responsibility
for insecure self-consciousness.
      It may not be easy to love
such a stubborn ignoramus;
but who needs compassion more?
      Love, not only the enemy,
but those not easily persuaded.
That dark mirror may reflect
an image also adamantine.

        Walt Abbott–11-18-08