Oh, and P.S.

Found a poem I've been searching for since high school -- which was... oh... maybe a couple of years ago???

I remembered the first three lines, and have been searching in poetry books all over the place, worried I might have made it up, but... FOUND IT!!!  On a whim, while procrastinating via Google.

The poet's name is Langston Hughes, who was apparently from Missouri.  The poem, as I suspected, is called "Dreams":

     Hold fast to dreams
     For if dreams die
     Life is a broken-winged bird
     That cannot fly.
   
     Hold fast to dreams
     For when dreams go
     Life is a barren field
     Frozen with snow.

On a day when the world has gone into flash-freeze... I'm so glad I found this poem again!