Birthday Songs for the 1952 Cohort

2B62

(To tune of “As Time Goes By”)

We must remember this,
Standing at the abyss,
Years fly as years do fly,
Our aging we cannot deny
As time goes by.

And when, at sixty-two,
They say “you may be due
For pension to apply” --
Our past does bring our future nigh
As time goes by.

Those contributions
Cached for later date
Plus the interest
Added to our plate;
We’ll need income
To live out our fate --
On this we can rely.

It’s still the same old story
Counting inventory,
To last until we die.
The world will always want our money
As time goes by.

Do calculations
With too much unknown;
All speculations
Invoking a groan.
We need comfort
Even when we are grown --
That no one can deny.

For now, remember this,
We have a job, such bliss,
They’ll not yet say goodbye --
We’ll hang on if we try
As time goes by.

---

Don’t Sigh So Much, You Old-timer

(To extracts of the tune: Don’t Cry for Me Argentina)

Don’t sigh so much, you old-timer!
Your youth hasn’t really left you.
Although your wild days,
Your mad existence,
And those old promises
Fade in the distance.

Under the batterings of aging,
(Which you never invited in
Although they came anyway),
You grew by inch and mile.
Age is illusion,
It’s not a dilution.
Years add more layers,
But you are there all the time;
Time only hides you inside you.

Don’t sigh so much, you old-timer!
Your youth still plays within you
With the working you,
Husband-father you,
And all that is you;
So, Happy Birthday!