I am and old, old man and very very tired....just an Old Man River, who over a long life has seen so many strange things, has met many strange people, has fought and almost died- and then through the years has come to life again. it is so difficult to think back to the beginning, so many hundreds....thousands....millions of years ago. sometimes I try, as I lie back lazily, watching my long white beard swirling and rippling before me, until it is lost in my grey-blue waters. lying there, with the sun painting a crown of gold above my wrinkled brow, I think back over the ages