Melancholy is an emotion used for those who wish to make the most of time. "What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?" This passage from Shakespeare only serves to illustrate that when one is suffering from melancholy, the days stretch into years at the thougth of the beloved, as opposed to when one has love and time flies by with reckless abandon. The blues in music were popular in the inner sections of Chicago in the 1930's for this very reason. People wanted to feel as though they really used thier free time, that the time that they had money would seem to last longer and be worth more than the time spent laboring in the factories or wallowing in unemplyment.

We feel bed because we get more out of it. "The darkest night is followed by the brightest dawn." Melancholy makes the good life even more worth while and even more worth the suffering of lonely late nights.

When we two parted in silence and tears
Half broken hearted to sever for years
Pale grew thy cheek and cold, colder thy kiss
Trully that hour fortold sorrow to this

The dew of the morning sunk chill on my brow
It felt like the warning of what I feel now
Thy vows are all broken and like is thy fame
I hear thy name spoken and share in it's shame

They name thee before me, a knell to mine ear
A shudder comes o'er me, Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee, who knew thee too well
Long, long shall I rue thee to deeply to tell.

In secret we met, in silence I grieve
That thy heart could forget, thy spirit deceive
If I should meet thee after long years,
How should I greet thee? With silence and tears

Lord Byron

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