You’ve been reading some old letters, You smile and you think how much you’ve changed

The end of the year approaching, my thoughts naturally tend towards reflection. Bouts of a bittersweet wistfulness overwhelm me often these nights. So many different feelings mix and mingle in my soul, to quote Morrissey, “I’m not happy and I’m not sad”. Night after night, when everyone is asleep, I found myself alone in the quiet stillness of the night, flipping through the pages of my many diaries written throughout the years. I don’t even know why I have the habit of doing it, for it only leaves me shattered and in tears, but at times there shines a smile on my face and this song, not originally written but covered by the Welsh band the Manic Street Preachers comes to mind. I love how the video for the song captures the highlights of the band’s early years, especially moments with Richey who looks just stunning with his eyeliner and cool hairdo. I really love how the song combines both sentiments; the looking back at the past and all the wonderful moments that no money in the world could bring back, but also stating ‘this is the day your life will surely change’ so it’s looking cheerfully into the future and what goods things it might bring. It’s almost like the Roman God Janus who represents things such as duality, gateways, passageways, transitions, endings, beginnings, and whose face looks both ways; into the past and into the future. To be able to simply appreciate the beautiful moments of the past days without the ache of yearning in your heart, now that would be a true gift.

William Turner, Moonlight, 1841

You didn’t wake up this morning’cause you didn’t go to bedYou were watching the whites of your eyes turn red

The calendar on your wall is ticking the days offYou’ve been reading some old lettersYou smile and you think how much you’ve changedAnd all the money in the worldCouldn’t bring back those days

You pull back the curtainsAnd the sun burns into your eyesYou watch a plane flyingAcross a clear blue sky

This is the day, your life will surely changeThis is the day when things fall into place

You could’ve done anything if you’d wantedAnd all your friends and family think that you’re luckyBut the side of you they’ll never seeIs when you’re left alone with the memoriesThat hold your life together, together like glue

You pull back the curtainsAnd the sun burns into your eyesYou watch a plane flyingAcross a clear blue skyThis is the day, your life will surely changeThis is the day when things fall into placeThis is the day, your life will surely changeThis is the day when things fall into placeThis is the dayThis is the day