Brigitte Bardot

This morning the paper brought the news
and my heart took a nosedive into my shoes.
The "Birthdays" column delivered the blow:
three-score-and-ten for Miss Brigitte Bardot.

How well I remember (this is no mirage)
her pouting lips and her décolletage.
That steamy gaze and delicate nose
cut and reshuffled all my status quos.

If Brigitte is seventy I'm not far behind,
with an arm she can lean on if she's so inclined.
I'll step up and say, as I doff my chapeau:
joyeux anniversaire Mademoiselle Bardot.