I came into the world two months too soon, I was in such a hurry.
I was always hearing that I was pale and thin and small.
When I was a little boy I did not, of course, trouble much about my appearance.
The Danish glee: the national version of cheerfulness.
I was not given to looking at life in a rosy light.
But when I was twelve years old I caught my first strong glimpse of one of the fundamental forces of existence, whose votary I was destined to be for life - namely, Beauty.