I'm 39 right now, for all those who are innerested. I love my crow's feet and my smile lines. I honestly think, too, that I'm a much nicer person then I was at, say, 13 or 26 (marriageable, then old-maidish at the time of the poet).

II.

When forty winters shall beseige thy brow,
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,
Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now,
Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held:
Then being ask'd where all thy beauty lies,
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,
To say, within thine own deep-sunken eyes,
Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise.
How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use,
If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,'
Proving his beauty by succession thine!
This were to be new made when thou art old,
And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.

Yes, this is a classic theme and, yes, it's fodder for further posts this month. Just wanted to have my, sigh, all too prosaic rebuttal out there for posterity.

(Happy Birthday, Bill, by the way. How old would you be now?)