THE PRIME OF LIFE



        It was, in truth, an eager youth
             Who halted me one day.
        He gazed in bliss at me, and this
             Is what he had to say:

        "Why, mazel tov, it's Asimov,
             A blessing on your head!
        For many a year, I've lived in fear
             That you were long since dead.

        Or if alive, one fifty-five
             Cold years had passed you by,
        And left you weak, with poor physique,
             Thin hair and rheumy eye.

        For sure enough, I've read your stuff
             Since I was but a lad
        And couldn't spell or hardly tell
             The good yarns from the bad.

        My father, too, was reading you
             Before he met my Ma.
        For you he earned, once he had learned
             About you from _his_ Pa.

        Since time began, you wondrous man,
             My ansestors did love
        That s.f. dean and writing machine
             The aged Asimov."

        I'd had my fill. I said: "Be still!
             I've kept my old-time spark.
        My step is light, my eye is bright,
             My hair is thick and dark."

        His smile, in brief, spelled disbelief,
             So this is what I did;
        I scowled, you know, and with one blow,
             I killed that rotten kid.

  1966


        Author's remark: "Mazel tov" is a Hebrew
        phrase meaning "good fortune" and it is
        used by Jews as a joyfyl greeting on
        jubilant occasions - as a meeting with
        me should surely be.