Believe me, I realize how high-school-yearbook-ish it is to offer up music lyrics as something contemplative, but I can’t help myself. I offer the prose below as a guiding light for the year ahead.

Now as our poor young lungs deflate, I'll admit I've gotten older
Mellowed out, chatting up those I used to hate
The feeling that we're lost will always fade
I present no explanation

Can't expect our tired patience to satiate for long

And therein lies a truth we can sip when we want
Disciples of the flow, we can float anywhere
If ever there's a drought, I've listed the puddles
Proven to better coax the divine out from within

Remember there's more road, and places to go
And patterns to contemplate, more people to fornicate
And remember there's a lot of good omens
Supplying the proof that our life is the best joke ever told
Remember it's a joke, and leave it alone

Let go and try to be always abiding
Remember if there's one good reason for dying
The sweet silver lining
Through you she lives on

And therein lies a coast we can see through the fog
An island in our thoughts can be heaven on earth
I swear to God if I haven't wandered all over then
I haven't done something that's worth telling at all

After the hell that you've been through, what could I even say?

Our Auntie Earth will take us in
She awaits our battered shells
I'll try to lay as close as I can to you

But while we're breathing, I should tell you

From the depths of the Void
I will love you for your growing crows feet
And fully adore the contradictions that we live
As all I can give