Today I sit

On Mommy's knee

Eyes wide open

As she tells me,

"Daniel, you are the future."

I don't quite understand

What Mommy means

And though things aren't always

What they seem

I know I am the future

Today's my birthday

I'm ten years old

I remember the words

My mother once told

That I am the future

I'm sixteen now

Times have changed

Wars go on

And people act strange

But I can change the future

Today I'm twenty

And what I do

Saves lives of those

Who are important too

We work to help the future

Now I'm forty

With a wife and kids

I've settled down

But what I did

Has helped to shape the future

I've lived my life

I'm eighty today

The kids are grown up

They've long since moved away

And now they are the future

So I told my son

When he turned three

What my own mother

Had told me,

"Andrew, you are the future."

Andrew looked up

Through widened eyes

"Daddy, don't worry,"

He said with a sigh,

"I know I am the future."