let me be something

photo via flickr by mary_robinson

"let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. 

Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. 

Let me be hungry…have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. 

Let me be sincere— be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. 

Let me be honorable and let me sin. 

Only let me be something every blessed minute. 

And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.”

— Betty Smith,
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.)