A  father sees a son nearing manhood.
What shall he tell that son?
'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.
Brutes have been gentled where lashes failed.
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 themdead years before burial
The quest of  lucre beyond a few easy needs
Has  twisted good enough men
Sometimes into dry thwarted worms.
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 understanding
of a world numbering many fools.

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

Langston Hughes'
Mother to Son

---

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'see 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.

In Both poems "What Shall He Tell That Son"? By:Carl Sandburg and "Mother to Son" By:Langston Hughes have metaphors. In the poem by Langston Hughes the whole poem is a metaphor. It mentions how life ain't no crystal stair. It talks about how how life was for her. Life wasn't perfect.

In "What Shall He Tell That Son" by Carl Sandburg he talks to his son about him being close to manhood he wants him to be strong and wants him to protect himself. Both poems tie together as their parents talk to their children to give them advice and how hard life has been for them. In the poem Mother To Son she tells her son not to turn his back to keep on walking forward no matter what comes ahead of him. After reading this poem I think the author wants me to understand that life isn't easy it gets hard for everyone and that no one is perfect "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.It's had tacks in it,And splinters,And boards torn up" she tells him how life was for her but she kept on trying her best "What shall he tell that son?Life is hard ;be steel; be a rock.'And this might stand him for the storms"

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