Care of Dreams
Esther Luttrell
"It is never too late to be what you might have been."
Without a dream, the heart is a desert.
Without a dream, the mind has no goal.
To live with a dream is to relish the present
And promise the future as a gift to the soul.
Dreaming alone, with no destination,
Is a wandering ship adrift on the sea,
With no means of steering, and no navigation,
Your dream is a prison and you'll never be free.
Carry your dream as a map of the way,
Follow its course as a pilgrim's decision.
Step by step, faithfully, day after day,
Follow your heart and follow your vision.
If you sleep in your dreams, you may someday awaken,
A dream unused is easy to steal.
If you don't use your dream, you may find it taken
By someone who'll work to make the dream real.
Cherish it, nurture it, tend it with care,
Weave it through threads of your life every day.
The way to unfold it will come if you dare
To plan by the vision, and follow the way.
Carry your dream as a map of the way,
Follow its course as a pilgrim's decision.
Step by step, faithfully, day after day,
Follow your heart and follow your vision.
Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote a poem about a young, despondent writer who committed suicide. When the writer arrived in a strange, lovely land on the other side, she saw everyone going about their work with such graciousness that she asked a messenger if there wasn't something she, too, could do. He replied, "Thou hadst thou task and laid it aside."
George Eliot
