Some drove around their old home town to see how things had changed
A handful sat and bragged about how far and wide they'd ranged
Quite a few attacked the golf course, and they swore that it was fun!
As they trudged in hot and sweaty, rosy pink from too much sun.

Dressed ev'ry way you could imagine, from real fancy to just plain
All were greetin' and a-huggin', and some weren't feelin' any pain
"How's your fam'ly?", "Here's my grandkids!", "Is that old coot still alive?"
Was buzzin' thru the room like swarmin' bees outside their hive.

They gathered into groups of three or four to eight to ten
Talkin' ninety miles an hour 'bout what they'd done and where they'd been
Then they'd go to reminiscin' and some would cry real tears
When they learned someone was missin' who'd been there in other years.

They noted how some looked so diff'rent and how some had barely changed
And how there was sev'ral bodies Father Time had rearranged.
How their hair had changed in color; in some cases disappeared,
And some suggested one or two was actin' downright weird.

Well, that's how things unfolded for most of two whole days and nights
And exceptin' for the steaks, most thought the banquet was all right
It ended with a dance enjoyed by everyone who came
Tho' some hadn't danced in forty years, just one or two went lame.

Yessir, forty years had gone by, plus a little more for some
Since their high school graduation, but no one there was glum
Fact is, we all decided, by a vote unanimous
To meet again in forty years, the whole dang bunch of us!

Like all the rest, I voted "AYE!" and never had no fears
That I just might not be around in another forty years
'Cause accordin' to mathematics, when it rolls 'round to that date,
My age will be a few days less than two plus nighty-eight!