Gwendolyn Brooks was born on June 7, 1917. In honor of her birthday, enjoy one of her poems. “Speech To The Young” is timeless. The sampling of the line “Even if you are not ready for day it cannot always be night.” has even become a hit on Tik Tok.
Speech to the Young: Speech to the Progress- Toward (Among them Nora and Henry III)
GWENDOLYN BROOKS
Say to them,
say to the down-keepers,
the sun-slappers,
the self-soilers,
the harmony-hushers,
"Even if you are not ready for day
it cannot always be night."
You will be right.
For that is the hard home-run.
Live not for battles won.
Live not for the-end-of-the-song.
Live in the along.
“Speech to the Young" by Gwendolyn Brooks, from BLACKS (Chicago, IL: Third World Press, 1991).
Voracious DPC 