Retirement

36 years have gone by way to fast

I built relationships I thought would last

It’s retirement day and I finally understand

I mean no more to them than the corner trash can

Too Old For New York City

Winter in that city ripped the warmth from my soul.

All those faceless people with frozen hearts and minds,

Alive but not living, pushing… rushing…struggling

Like rats scuttling in and out of nameless places

 

Life there was for dreamers and only the young have

Any dreams left to give. There’s no inspiration

There for a man too old for imagination.

Not there among all those hurried, screaming masses

Life

The stone is set

My die has been cast

What the future brings

Will slide into the past

No amount of want

Will ever make it stay

It will fade to memories

Of yesterday

Age

You silenced the calling out of children

Across empty lots and down twilight alleyways

You stole the summers of innocents

And the friends and lovers of forgotten days

 

Long ago, you teased me with your possibilities

Filled me with hope and fantasies

Then jerked away your promises

And left me with want and empty dreams

To My Young and Innocent Jerry

You are too impatient

In your eager search for the now

You’ve left no time for reflection

On ‘the once was’ or the ‘what will be’

I will tell you to slow down and enjoy the ride

I know you will not listen

You will not listen to anyone

Just stop trying so hard

Let us wear out our life

Listening to the wind in the trees

Feel the summer warmth on our face

Breathe the coolness of the evening

Hear the music of nature drifting across open meadows

Smell the intoxicating scent of wild flowers

Opening their souls to worship the morning sun

I know that in your rush to reach

What you believe to be success

You will ignore it all

Until you realize that it was not worth it

I pity your journey