Since the moment my friendship with Lucille began in 1989, I feel as if almost everything I’ve learned about life and love and being human (in this both wondrous and often terrifying world), I learned from her, my friend and teacher.
Lucille was an unforgettable teacher for so many of us at St. Mary’s College of Maryland…which is a kind of irony, given that she frequently told audiences that she didn’t believe in teaching, although she very much believed in learning! She thought our focus in education should be developing better human beings and called her syllabus a field guide. Her questions, quotes, and unique perspectives enlightened my life and work, as it did so many thousands of others.
I loved our car conversations when she would tell stories about her six children growing up and how much she loved them and loved being their mom. She would also share quotes like the one she heard from a minister: “I ain’t but a little, I can do but a little, that which I can do, I will do,” or she might recite her favorite biblical phrase “To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.”
For me as a school principal, deeply committed to children, and overextended in my efforts to optimize student learning and well-being, Lucille’s poem “we are running” helped me prioritize the multiple demands on my time, so I posted the last lines of this poem on my office wall for guidance and inspiration.
I miss my friend Lucille who died seven years ago now. Still on this, her birthday week, I celebrate her continuing presence in my life. I’m filled with gratitude for the gift of her powerful and abundant writing. Surely her legacy of courage and empathy can live on in each of us.
– Kathleen Glaser
we are running
running and
time is clocking us
from the edge like an only
daughter.
our mothers stream before us,
cradling their breasts in their
hands.
oh pray that what we want
is worth this running
pray that what we’re running
toward
is what we want.
— Lucille Clifton
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