In Reply to: re: re: re: silverlining posted by fíor Ghaeil on January 31, 2009 at 19:54:53:

Twenty years coming,
Twenty years good,
Twenty years declining, and
Twenty years useless.
This proverb looks at the stages of life. A person will spend the first score of life coming of age. When one comes to that magic age of 21, one begins the second score of life. It is the prime of your life. It is marked by the mystical number 21, the multiple of two powerful prime numbers, the three of the trinity and the seven days of creation. Some say that life begins at forty. That is not true here. At forty, you begin your third score, an epoch of decline. By sixty, you will have declined to the point of being useless. Below is an alternative form of this bleak proverb:
Fiche bliain ag fás.
Fiche bliain faoi bhláth.
Fiche bliain ag cromadh.
Fiche bliain gur cuma ann nó as.
Twenty years growing.
Twenty years in bloom.
Twenty years declining.
Twenty years when it doesn't matter
whether you're there or not.