i’m willing to gamble. i will put everything on the line for one shot at something amazing. i’ll bet my eyes. my heart. the back of my knee, or elbow. i will bet you my next breath and the one after that even if the odds are ridiculous, if the reward promises to teach me anything about myself or my life.

sometimes this means i gamble things i shouldn’t. sometimes it means i lose everything most people hold onto with a death grip. but what they overlook is we all lose everything in the end anyways.

you can’t live your life avoiding risk of loss, because you can’t hold on to anything anyways. let it go. reach out for what you need the most, reach for what moves you. you’ll be dead as my uncle before you know it.

leonard is my emotional father. ive never found in any other poet, or songwriter, or anyone who speaks a language i thought was my own. his understanding that loss is one of the most vital parts of life, even when you hate loss, keeps me sane. and when i feel near giving up for all the struggling he reminds me all of this is art, so long as you take the ash of whatever burns and use it.

in my head i know there’s no such thing as loss. it’s manmade. in my heart though, this is less clear.

I see you standing on the other side
I don’t know how the river got so wide
I loved you baby, way back when
And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed
But I feel so close to everything that we lost
We’ll never have to lose it again

LEONARD COHEN [ MUSIC ]