Life begins at forty
There'struth within those words
I've hit my fifties and it seems well
Just absurd.
Young men stand up for me on trams
And shop assistant's call me Ma'am
There are children call me Gram
They are my heart and soul's delight
Joints ache more than they did
My age a little more than mid
But I still feel like a kid
With my whole future in my sight.
There is still so much more to do
I've never been to Uluru
Never flown to Kathmandu or even Cuba
I've never seen the Pathernon
I never sailed the Amazon
I cannot play the cello, piano or the tuba.
But this is time for some reflection
On life's general direction
And upon it quick inspection
I am certain of these things
There are no gurus with the answers
And I'd rather take my chances
With the singers and the dancers
Than the clerics and the kings
I know that love and laughter rule
I know my mother was no fool
I know less now than when at school there's nothing surer
From each according to her means
To each according to his needs
Sounds like the seeds for justice peace and human order.
So let t he next decades unfold
With all their stories still untold
There will be tears there will be gold
We cannot see it how or when
And I have plans still unfullfilled
There are still furrows to be tilled
There are still dreames for me to build
Before my story's at an end.
Young men stand up for me on trams
And shop assistants call me Ma'am
There are 2 children call me Gram
There are my heart and soul's delight.