I am fast approaching the age,
— the biblical allocation of three score years and ten,
(Although modern medicine means it should be re-evaluated),
When my thoughts increasingly turn to the future,
And what it might hold before the inevitability of death,
— an end that may be postponed, but cannot be prevented.
Will it perhaps be my fate to die of cancer like my father,
Or will I linger for years in the half-light of dementia,
My thoughts disconnected and unknowing,
As sadly happened to my mother
— a thought which is just too painful to contemplate;
Or will I be the victim of a sudden catastrophe,
— all of them circumstances entirely beyond my control,
But still, ones that cause me to pause, and wonder.

Unsurprisingly my hope and desire,
— and one that I share with most people of my generation,
Is that I will live to enjoy many more years of health
Before I am called to give an account
For the way, I developed the multiplicity of gifts
With which I was endowed at birth,
—talents for which I can claim no special credit,
And which do not make me superior to others.
They may be mere accidents,
— nothing more than a fortunate combination of genes,
But I am responsible for the way I have used
(Or wasted this inheritance),
Not just for myself and my family,
But for the good of all of my fellow men and women.

Now I have embarked on this last phase
Of what has generally been a full and enjoyable life
— although there have been setbacks and wrong turnings,
It is a good thing I think, for me to pause for a moment
And take stock, a time for reflection on what is really important.
Certainly, I have learned that true wealth
Is not a matter of monetary riches,
Although it helps to be comfortably off,
And definitely not the trivial celebrity
That seems to be so sought after and prized 
In our present, rather shallow age.
Oh, you can Google my name and get scores of hits,
But to think these mean anything in the final analysis
Would be bragging, and pointless vanity.

It has been my good fortune
To have been born in a democratic country
— whatever its shortcomings and often blinkered vision,
In a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity,
— despite the shadow of the Cold War of my first forty years.
Universal education was free, although there was selection
— meaning that many were unfairly branded as failures,
And the privileged still chose to send their children to fee-paying schools,
(It would be best not to discuss the unfair advantage it gave them later).
My secondary school taught a broad curriculum,
So I was well-grounded in the humanities
As well as the sciences which I chose to follow,
But more important was the encouragement I got at home,
— it helped growing up in a house full of books.