"Instructions on Not Giving Up" is a fourteen-line unrhymed poem about spring and resilience by 24th U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón. Limón wrote the poem in one rush of inspiration, immediately after walking her dog through streets littered with early spring blossoms. This poem contrasts temporary flowers with "patient" green leaves to offer a metaphor for choosing to continue life.
"Instructions" was first published in the Poem-a-Day series by the Academy of American Poets and quickly became beloved, praised, and shared widely online. Limón reflects:
I had thought of it as a small quiet poem of reflection, something born of a personal moment that had ushered me out of harsh winter into a new state of acceptance and a surrender to ongoingness. But as I saw the outpouring of responses on social media, I realized I wasn’t the only one who needed that tree, who needed to be reminded that continuing can also be a choice.
The poem later appeared in Limón's award-winning fifth book, The Carrying (2018).
Ada Limón lives in Lexington, Kentucky, and is known for her free-verse poetry that builds imagery of the natural world into striking observations of the human condition.
