Dear Milton, An accumulation of years, at once inevitable and momentous, traditionally becomes the occasion for congratulations of colleagues and friends-congratulations and appraisals. As the student in Faust I complains (and, in honor of the present occasion, I've disrupted the meter of the first line, as well as some internal rhyme, to read "sechzig" for "drei") : 'Sechzig' Jahre ist eine kurze Zeit, Und, Gott, das Feld ist gar zu weit, Wenn man einen Fingerzeig nur hat, Lasst sich's schon eher weiter fiihlen. Faust I, 2005-81