They were lying when they told me pressure makes a diamond. I put the weight of a thousand worlds on my back and yet I don’t shine. I am not unbreakable. I am still just as fragile and worthless as a lump of coal. They were lying when they told me heat makes diamonds. I can scream in the mirror at myself with hot stinging tears burning rivers down my face and still I am a lump of filthy coal. I can spit flames into my own face fueled by the coal that makes myself yet still I only get consumed. I do not get stronger, I do not change. I do not get clean, I do not shine. Instead, I burn, I shatter, I crumble, and I consume myself in my own ceaseless quest to become a diamond.