To A Son

 A father sees a son nearing manhood.
'Life is hard; be steel; be a rock.'
And this might stand him for the storms
and serve him for humdrum and monotony 
and guide him amid sudden betrayals
and tighten him for slack moments.
'Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.'
And this too might serve him.TEXT HERE
Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed. TEXT HERE
The growth of a frail flower in a path up 
has sometimes shattered and split a rock.
A tough will counts. So does desire. 
So does a rich soft wanting. 
 Without rich wanting nothing arrives. 
Tell him too much money has killed men
And left them dead years before burial: 
The quest of lucre beyond a few easy needs 
Has twisted good enough men TEXT HERE
Sometimes into dry thwarted worms. TEXT HERE
Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted. 
Tell him to be a fool every so often
and to have no shame over having been a fool
yet learning something out of every folly
hoping to repeat none of the cheap follies
thus arriving at intimate understandingTEXT HERE
of a world numbering many fools.TEXT HERE

Tell him to be alone often and get at himselfTEXT HERE
and above all tell himself no lies about himselfTEXT HERE
whatever the white lies and protective frontsTEXT HERE
he may use amongst other people.TEXT HERE
Tell him solitude is creative if he is strongTEXT HERE
and the final decisions are made in silent rooms.TEXT HERE
Tell him to be different from other peopleTEXT HERE
if it comes natural and easy being different.TEXT HERE
Let him have lazy days seeking his deeper motives.TEXT HERE
Let him seek deep for where he is a born natural.TEXT HERE
    Then he may understand Shakespeare
    and the Wright brothers, Pasteur,Pavlov ,
    Michael Faraday and free imaginations
Bringing changes into a world resenting change.TEXT HERE
    He will be lonely enoughTEXT HERE
    to have time for the workTEXT HERE
    he knows as his own.TEXT HERE
        -From 'The People, Yes' Carl Sandburg

Langston Hughes'
Mother to Son

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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.

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