Some people get all worked up about turning 30. For me, it came and went without incident. But today I turn 33. And for the past week, I’ve had these niggling, gnawing thoughts in the back of my brain.
Jesus Christ had planted the seeds of a world religion by the time he was thirty-three. Alexander the Great had forged the greatest empire the world had ever seen by the time he was thirty-three. What have you done with your time here?
How do I answer that? Why do I even ask it of myself? I don’t know. But my birthday was fairly decent on the whole. Even if I haven’t conquered the known world.
33 did the same for me, mostly because of an old Harry Chapin song…
When I started this song I was still thirty-three
The age that Mozart died and sweet Jesus was set free
Keats and Shelley too soon finished, Charley Parker would be
And I fantasized some tragedy’d be soon curtailing me
Well just today I had my birthday — I made it thirty-four
Mere mortal, not immortal, not star-crossed anymore
I’ve got this problem with my aging I no longer can ignore
A tame and toothless tabby can’t produce a lion’s roar
Happy belated. 🙂
That’s an awesome song, Mo. “Not star-crossed anymore” is a wonderful line. Thanks!
33 did the same for me, mostly because of an old Harry Chapin song…
When I started this song I was still thirty-three
The age that Mozart died and sweet Jesus was set free
Keats and Shelley too soon finished, Charley Parker would be
And I fantasized some tragedy’d be soon curtailing me
Well just today I had my birthday — I made it thirty-four
Mere mortal, not immortal, not star-crossed anymore
I’ve got this problem with my aging I no longer can ignore
A tame and toothless tabby can’t produce a lion’s roar
Happy belated. 🙂
That’s an awesome song, Mo. “Not star-crossed anymore” is a wonderful line. Thanks!