Still Here — Langston Hughes

I find myself turning to poetry a lot lately. Even more than normal. Because it is a medium that helps me sync with the need for both bigger picture, and, the details, of these times. I continue to see, in myself and in others, the need for capacity that includes, but is more than, just our brains charged with super-tenacity.

Langston Hughes, the 1900s writer and social change activist, offers this poem that stays with me today. I love it for his statement of persistence held against a backdrop of centuries old injustice and inequity, punctuated by laughter and loving.

For inspiration. For syncing the big picture with the details.

Still Here
Langston Hughes (1901 – 1967)

I been scarred and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has frizziest me,
Sun has baked me,
Looks like between ’em they done
Tried to make me
Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’ —
But I don’t care!
I’m still here!

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