Crystal Stairs

[blueheretic]

Mother to Son
By Langston Hughes

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.

[capcat]

I remember when you posted that as a poem your mom sent when you went into the service. Your post prompted me to check for a long lost poem my grandmother kept on the wall in her kitchen. I’d looked from state to state and online for a copy, to no avail. It was called Keepin’ on. Anyway, the night you posted prompted me to check one more time and there it was, for sale at a place in New Orleans for $1.00. It might’ve been hers, idk. As I recall, it was framed exactly as hers was. It’s still up on my wall. Thank you.

[capcat]

Still have the amazing up-close photo you took of a camel in front of a pyramid.

[capcat]

Anyway, back to the poem. If it helps anyone, it was written in the early 1900s I guess for people who’d lived through difficult times, like WW1, the Great Depression and Ww2. At this time, it was recorded anonymously. But the words are worthy. “If the day looks kinder gloomy, and yer chances kinder slim…jest gristle up and grit yer teeth an’ keep on Keepin’ on.”
My grandmother endured the humidity of Kentucky summers to bake her pies to sell, sometimes on rationed measures and my grandfather traveled by train up to the Kentucky mountains to drive mule teams up the side of mountains to bring phone service up there.

[blueheretic]

In this age, this seems as if it is from another galaxy.

Resilience and strength are long lost to us now.