What Happens to a Dream Deferred?

What happens to a dream deferred---over and over, again and again? Until it frays, uravels, and wears out.  Surely, that's what must have propelled a mother to say to her son, "Life's for me ain't been no crystal stair!" (From Langston Hughes' Mother to Son) You think? Have you ever heard the bromide, "If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all?" 

When did I stop expecting, hoping, and dreaming?  How long ago did I reject the falsetto notes of "Happily-Ever-Afters?" Was that after my first dream deferred? Has my torch song become "I've got a right to sing the Blues?" Do I pretend to embrace the genre as if it mirrors my Southern roots and culture? 

Do the Blues become me,  fit me like a snuggly sweater on a cool, autumn day? Who am I, I wonder.  Why would I be expected to know the answer? Have I ever questioned how or why I'm in the predicament in which I may be ensconced? Did I contribute, or am I the innocent bystander in my own life? 

"Everything must change. Nothing stays the same.  Everything must change. No one stays the same.  The young become the old. And mysteries do unfold, 'Cause that's the way of time.  Nothing and no one goes unchanged."

That's what musical genius Quincy Jones penned over two decades ago.  What to do? TURN TO THE NERDS? I don't think so.! A veteran of pain, anguish, and failed attempts to manage losses, I suggest turning or returning to God for solace, strength, and wisdom.  Among other benefits. "Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails; Heav'n and earth may pass away, But Jesus never  fails."

And, "I was weak and weary, I had gone astray, Walking in the darkness, I couldn't find my way.  Then a light came shining to lead me from despair, All my sins forgiven, and I was free from care.  I found the answer I learned to pray. With faith to guide me I found the way.  The sun is shining for me each day, I found the answer, i learned to pray, I learned to pray."