Life is for the living. Death is for the dead. Let life be like music. And death a note unsaid.
Hughes wrote this poem during the Harlem Renaissance, a period when Black Americans were navigating brutal systemic racism while also building something extraordinary in art, music, and community. The speaker in the poem nearly drowns, nearly jumps from a building, and then chooses to keep going anyway — not because life is easy, but because it is still life. That choice to stay, to keep moving without knowing what comes next, is exactly what trust and surrender ask of us. You do not have to see the full road; you just have to take the next step.
Reflection
Think about a decision you have been waiting to make until you feel certain. What would you do tomorrow if you stopped needing a guarantee first?