Song (2) by Edwin Rolfe

Keep the dream alive and growing always.
You will have far to go to find
substitute visions for the one you hold
living, newly born, warm in your cupped hand.
Infant, it needs protection: warmth against cold,
the finger-barrier to ward off wind,
the closed palm against rain and snow,
the eye to see and the nourishing will.

This is your vision: keep it glowing
like the furnace door open in the shadowed mill,
the solitary cap-lamp in the mine,
the lonely eye at midnight. Whether at toil,
or study, or love, these things- like dreams,
like imaged worlds and creatures- need nurturing always.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SProlfe.htm