A Hazy Shade of Winter

I turn 36 years old this Friday. I never thought I'd be pushing 40 this soon - well, I knew I would but it feels like it came along really quickly. Simon and Garfunkel wrote the song, "Hazy Shade of Winter" as a cautionary tale about getting older, living with regret and missing out on opportunities. According to www.lyricinterpretations.com the meaning behind it is:

(It) seems to be about how Paul Simon is (remembering) how he was looking for something or someone perfect, but never found it. And now time is running out. Spring, winter "leaves are brown" (fall), seasons are being used as a metaphor for the cycle of life

With that, allow me to reintroduce a short little piece I wrote a few years ago, bookended by the classic Simon and Garfunkel lyrics and a version of the song performed by the Bangles - great cover in my opinion. Take it away... younger me:

Days are getting shorter; nights longer and colder, and - not for the first time - autumn feels like a bit of a metaphor for me. For all the new things that Autumn brings, there are also grey skies and dead leaves. Change isn't always as good as a holiday despite the fact that it may be necessary. One has to move with change, but it's not always a weekend in the Bahamas. Autumn is temporary though, so let's see what winter brings.

Hazy Shade of Winter - Lyrics by Paul Simon

Time, time, time, see what's become of me... While I looked around for my possibilities. I was so hard to please. But look around, leaves are brown and the sky is a hazy shade of winter Hear the salvation army band. Down by the riverside, it's bound to be a better ride than what you've got planned. Carry your cup in your hand... and look around, leaves are brown... and the sky is a hazy shade of winter Hang on to your hopes, my friend. That's an easy thing to say, but if your hope should pass away it's simply pretend that you can build them again. Look around, the grass is high, the fields are ripe, it's the springtime of my life... Ahhh, seasons change with the scenery, weaving time in a tapestry. Won't you stop and remember me... At any convenient time, funny how my memory slips while looking over manuscripts of unpublished rhyme drinking my vodka and lime and look around, leaves are brown... and the sky is a hazy shade of winter look around, leaves are brown... There's a patch of snow on the ground... look around, leaves are brown... There's a patch of snow on the ground... look around, leaves are brown... There's a patch of snow on the ground.