I would do it all over again: Be the harbor and set the sail,
It seems I am always thinking about James Baldwin, at least since I first knew to be.
I bought, on a whim — because that is what good bookstores are designed to facilitate — a copy of The Devil Finds Work, a collection of his essays about movies. I also bought, more intentionally, a pair of gifts for my nephew - because that is what you do when you’re trying to be World’s Best Aunt.
And because I am always thinking about James Baldwin, I am often thinking about Toni Morrison, and about her eulogy for him: “In your hands language was handsome again. In your hands we saw how it was meant to be: neither bloodless nor bloody, and yet alive.”
Attribution
I would do it all over again:
Be the harbor and set the sail,
Loose the breeze and harness the gale,
Cherish the harvest of what I have been.
Better the summit to scale.
Better the summit to be.— from Eve Remembering by Toni Morrison