81 is a Base Number: Eight 10s and 1

It is an odd thing
To wake in the night
And think that this day
I will be 9-squared old.

I am eighty-one.
Four-score and seven years ago
I had not been born
By six years.
I will never be
A famous quote.

Since in sleep
My head had already been working
On arithmetic
Converting my age
To a Matrix
Nine on a side

I began to consider
A counting system
Based on nine
But that seemed
Too close to octal
So I did what I do sometimes
And worked on a base
Of twenty-six:
A through z.
Let z be zip
Or zero.

A is 1, b is 2,
And y is 25.
Then az is 26,
And aa is 27.
But I am three 26es
And three more
So I today
Am cc

Never thought
To be
So old
Just saying it
cc
Sounds ancient

Next year I will be
A cd
Unless I wake
On another base

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