I took a walk outside today. I had a hat that blew away. It drifted up above the trees, and vanished on a chilly breeze. I do not mean to curse or cry, but I loved that hat, I will not lie. I’ll lay the truth before you bare: that hat was all in this world for which I cared. It guarded my head from ill-tempered rains, and shielded me from sunlight’s pains. It tamed my hair of wild curl and caught the eye of many a girl. It traveled every road I did and all the while it kept hid the secrets of my wild locks and locked up all my secret thoughts. It was the most constant companion I had. To lose that hat nearly drove me mad. But through my madness a lesson rose. It started in my rain-soaked toes. And ventured forth as it did rise to meet my fast tear-brimming eyes. It filled my eyes of tear-stained blue and wound into my thoughts straight through those windows to my very soul and filled up that empty hole. And here is what filled me up inside, that lesson that froze even the tears I cried: if we do not hold tight to our dear friends, real or imagined, they’ll leave us in the end.