Birthdays come and quickly go,
Excitement builds as a child knows:
Parties, gifts, games, cake and balloons,
Childhood innocence over way too soon.
Adolescent years, some good, some bad,
Spots and boyfriends, but fun to be had,
Experience of love, out to work and at play
Accept that a birthday’s just another day.
I heard on the news a footballer has died,
His skill on the pitch was never denied.
I remember watching him play long ago,
When I was teenager of eighteen or so.
Twenties, thirties, those learning years
Experience Life, laughter, joy and tears,
Get married, perhaps have a kid or two
Then discover the bastard’s been cheating on you.
Forties come with its shades of grey,
As we fight to keep wrinkles and crows feet at bay,
Gradually approaching some half way stage
When it all turns downhill as we continue to age.
The sixties cometh, but I remember the times
Of bedtime stories and nursery rhymes,
Family relations of old are all gone
But my life continues to stretch on and on.
A lifespan expected of three score and ten
Is way out of date, be it women or men,
But what to look forward to as we grow old?
Care in a Nursing Home, doing what we are told.
I look to the mirror and what do I see –
An old wizened stranger looking straight back at me,
A face once familiar, yet no longer mine,
The map of my Life etched in every line.
How long we have Here is anyone’s guess,
We look after our health, cope with all of the stress,
Doing the best that we can to get by,
Knowing that, in the end, we all die.
pensitivity101 
As somebody once said ” You only get one guarantee in this world… you will not get out of it alive!”
I find it rather interesting, in a disturbing kind of way that (based on an average male lifespan here) I am not that far away from that magic number, and reducing the gap every year! Will I reach that statistical age? Will I exceed that statistical age? Even more disturbing thoughts!!!! 🙂
I find myself thinking similar things as my brothers are both in their 70s, my sister mid sixties, and I’m coming up to the big 6 0. I realise that those people who were young when I was, are now old!
My teachers, who were already old, are probably all departed now.
It’s so hard to believe that I was watching Holland play in the 1974 World Cup, and that is now 42 years ago. Age (and years) keeps creeping up on me, and when I realise just how many years ago specific things happened, it’s a bit of a brain shock!.
My biggest “realization” is every time a music celebrity from the 60’s and 70’s dies. I know that they are generally around my age! When one younger than me dies, then it becomes even more of a “wake up” message!
Yep, know exactly what you mean.
I agree about musicians and actors dying in their 60s and my first reaction is.. but they are so young.. then I remember I am the same age. My mother died at 95 and one of the strange side effects of dementia is that some sufferers look in the mirror and only see their younger selves in a time that they do remember. She maintained you should identify an age when you felt you were in your prime and stick at that for the rest of your life.. for me that would probably be 35ish. So that is where I will stay.
What a lovely thought (my Mum is 94 this year). I’m not sure when I was in my prime… any time 1989 to present I guess, as this has been my happiest.
There you go then.. pick an age any age…
Got plenty to chose from……….. best day was May 11th 1991 and arriving in Amsterdam. I was 35 the following day.
See 35 for me too.. has a ring about it. Happy Easter…
Thank you. You too.