Some more Gwendolyn Brooks

I found myself a little enchanted with Gwendolyn Brooks after reading her work in class the other day.  So I looked at a few more of her poems and found this one to be one of my favorites:


My Dreams, My Works, Must Wait Till After Hell by Gwendolyn Brooks
I hold my honey and I store my bread 
In little jars and cabinets of my will. 
I label clearly, and each latch and lid 
I bid, Be firm till I return from hell. 
I am very hungry. I am incomplete. 
And none can give me any word but Wait, 
The puny light. I keep my eyes pointed in; 
Hoping that, when the devil days of my hurt 
Drag out to their last dregs and I resume 
On such legs as are left me, in such heart 
As I can manage, remember to go home, 
My taste will not have turned insensitive 
To honey and bread old purity could love.


This poem speaks to me because it is about hope, waiting for the "dawn to come" and that if you just wait and hope (or "sit and hold") that your life will work itself out.  
I think this can be very applicable to the victims of racial discrimination in the early 20th century because they had hope that times would change; there was some glimmer of light in the future that "hell" would end.
I came across this quote in a book about appreciating your life for what it is:
"Hell is wanting to be something and somewhere different from where you are.  If that is true, and I believe it is, most of us spend most of our lives in hell".
Regardless of our beliefs about hell, I believe that hope can be a good thing for any person.  I know that there is this belief that some people have that after they go through a really hard time, that then they will be able to achieve their dreams and works; they will eventually reach some type of satisfaction.  But what I know (and have been trying to work on with myself) is to accept my life for what it is, keep hoping, and believe that my dreams and works are happening now and are possible in the future.