Dear old friend, have not chagrin For greying hair and wrinkled skin You’ve seen and made and loved and lost Had your spring, summer, fall Now you’ve only begun to frost The way of life is not always kind But, fortunate soul, you’ve survived All you’ve been through and overcome You have risen with the tides And you’ll set with the sun The lines in your face like lines of a book Of wisdom and beauty overlooked Simply by being and becoming old You have unknowingly written The greatest story ever told For aging, there is only one alternative Be grateful now, for you have lived