Caroling Dusk/Mother to Son

For other versions of this work, see Mother to Son.

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Suicide's Note

Caroling Dusk (1927)
edited by Countee Cullen

Mother to Son by Langston Hughes

A House in Taos

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Langston Hughes4756068Caroling Dusk — Mother to Son1927Countee Cullen

MOTHER TO SON^[1]

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 timeI’s been a-climbin’ on,And reachin’ landin’s,And turnin’ corners,And sometimes goin’ in the darkWhere 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’s still goin’, honey, I’s still climbin’,And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

↑ By permission of and special arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., authorized publishers.

[1] By permission of and special arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., authorized publishers.

[1]