Mother to Son by Langston Hughes

To close out this week with its focus on family (the first time I've had a theme in quite a while), I decided to move from memories of lost relatives to a mother's gentle reproach to her son--reproach larded with not a little encouragement. Perhaps something like this is just what we need to hear from a mother (whether our own or Langston Hughes's) sometimes...

Mother to Son

Langston Hughes - 1902-1967

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down on the steps

’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now—

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin’,

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.