On the night before I began my senior year of high school, my heart was broken by a blue-eyed redhead. Upon learning of my depleted emotional state, my great aunt sent me a copy of Desiderata. She also suggested that I make like a dog: retreat to the shadows and lick my wounds, then come out stronger and ready to face the world. She’s a wise one, my great aunt. To this day, that copy of Desiderata remains framed in my bedroom.

Fast forward several years… I was in my great aunt’s house, reading the various tidbits magnetized to her fridge. One of those tidbits was (is, as far as I know) the following poem…