A Father to his son by Carl Sandburg

Carl Sandburg lived from 1878-1967. Some of his works have received Pulitzer Prizes, and Sandburg had a middle school named after him. In this poem, a father is thinking about the advice he wishes to impart to his son.A father sees his son nearing manhood.What shall he tell that son?'Life is hard; be steel; be a rock.'And this might stand him for the stormsand serve him for humdrum monotonyand guide him among sudden betrayalsand tighten him for slack moments.'Life is a soft loam; be gentle; go easy.'And this too might serve him.Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.The growth of a frail flower in a path uphas 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 menand left them dead years before burial:the quest of lucre beyond a few easy needshas twisted good enough mensometimes into dry thwarted worms.Tell him time as a stuff can be wasted.Tell him to be a fool every so oftenand to have no shame over having been a foolyet learning something out of every follyhoping to repeat none of the cheap folliesthus arriving at intimate understandingof a world numbering many fools.Tell him to be alone often and get at himselfand above all tell himself no lies about himselfwhatever the white lies and protective frontshe may use against other people.Tell him solitude is creative if he is strongand the final decisions are made in silent rooms.Tell him to be different from other peopleif it comes natural and easy being different.Let him have lazy days seeking his deeper motives.Let him seek deep for where he is born natural.Then he may understand Shakespeareand the Wright brothers, Pasteur, Pavlov,Michael Faraday and free imaginationsBringing changes into a world resenting change.He will be lonely enoughto have time for the workhe knows as his own.