The message in this poem seems to be about a caring mother explaining to her son that life has hardships and obstacles they must overcome. The mother first conveys this message by the line, “ Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.”. To elaborate she includes details about the stairs with words such as, “splinters” and ,” tacks” . After detailing the stairs, the mother describes the path life has taken her. She relays the path life has taken her with, “ turnin' corners” and “climbin” . To describe the difficulty life in which life has led her she mostly uses words regarding light and dark on how the child will not see a lot of things occurring in life. The mother finalizes the poem by comforting the child to not give up on life and ends with,
