May we keep a little of the fuel of youth to warm our body in old age.

Antrim’s image treats youth as a store of “fuel”—energy, hope, curiosity, and emotional warmth—that can be conserved and drawn upon later. The wish is not to remain young, but to carry forward some of youth’s vitality so that old age is not merely endurance but still contains comfort and animation. The metaphor also implies deliberate stewardship: habits, friendships, learning, and pleasures cultivated earlier can become inner resources when physical strength wanes. In a broader moral sense, it commends continuity of spirit across life stages—keeping imagination and affection alive so that aging does not mean becoming cold, rigid, or depleted.