Read
Dream Keeper

Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.
-Langston Hughes

Reflect
“Mom.” My youngest had selected me to answer the latest question in a family game of Would You Rather? “Which would you rather give up: fear or pain?” “Fear,” I immediately replied. She waited while I considered my answer. I, wishing I could change it, balking at the thought that I’d rather feel pain than fear, said again, “Yeah. Fear.”

I’ve learned to listen to God’s voice when it speaks to me, and I’ve been pondering the question ever since: When am I going to let my dreams win over my fears? Do I still even have any dreams that I want to see happen? Then, in a flash, I thought about this poem. Give me all of your dreams, you dreamers…

Langston Hughes wrote a lot about dreams, particularly A Dream Deferred. Dream Keeper, however, was my favorite poem to teach to kids. I would read it to them, tell it to them, and then we would discuss it, line by line.

Discussing this poem produced some of the richest, most insightful conversation I’ve ever had with kids. They noticed things like “He said, ‘Bring me all of your dreams’– not just some of them, all of them!” “If you’re reading this poem, you are a dreamer.” “Those heart melodies must be the songs of your heart.” “Langston Hughes says the dreams are going to be wrapped, like a present or a baby.” “The blue-cloud cloth sounds like the sky, or heaven.” “I think my dreams are really safe with the dream keeper.”

Then I would ask them: who is saying all of this to you? Who is the “me” in the poem?

Kids had all kinds of answers, and many of them replied with God and Jesus.

So when fear takes over, again, I say this poem to myself. I thank God for being my dream keeper, and for the power of hearing God’s words through the mouths of children.

– Miriam McKenney

Respond
Who are your dream keepers? Whose dreams are you keeping? What new dreams have entered your consciousness lately? What are you prepared to do to make your dreams come to fruition? Think about the role God plays in your dreams, and your fears. Where are you hearing God’s voice?