There’s an old joke that floats around in the world of musicians. “It’s always better to compose than to decompose.” A bit too poignant right now, but hey. And you know, Bob Dylan once said, “Behind every beautiful thing, there's some kind of pain.”  He’s right. And that’s because the times they are a changin’…He might have said that too. Let me check….

Well times are indeed changing right now, and a lot of us are thinking about things we usually manage to avoid. So maybe it’s time to make something beautiful with all this pain. Time to compose. Time to compose ourselves, too.

All this time and anxiety on my hands has reminded me of what’s important and why I’m here. For me, that means writing and recording music, and writing poetry. It helps me stay composed, as opposed to the opposite. I find it makes a whole lot of positive difference in my happiness and peace, especially being isolated the way we are.  

That’s how I do it, but you can do it your own way. It’s time – kind of now or never – to find something (or if you’re very lucky, someone) you love and do something you’ve always wanted to do. Compose. Create. Turn that interest into a hobby, or that hobby into a passion. Turn that someone into a friendship or a love that you couldn’t or wouldn’t do until now, in these extraordinary times. Turn that worry into a way to help others.  Wish and dream and do.  

So, let’s both stay composed, together. And let’s make a wish. Mine is that I hope I can make a difference in the world – including my own - by composing some new music or poetry, or maybe that new friendship (as virtual as it may be, for now), out of all this pain and anxiety.  And your wish?  Well, that’s up to you… to compose. But don’t wait. The times they are a changin’…

Pete Silva is a singer/songwriter/poet and teacher of English literature, based in South County, RI. In his spare time he builds New England stone farm walls. There seems to be a lot of spare time, lately.