Retirement has an ominous tone.
It rings of putting things on
shelves
to collect dust and cobwebs,
to withdraw, disengage,
“going quietly into the night.”
In
German, “in Ruhestand gehen,”
bears a stillness that recalls sleepy
graveyards.
It is not hibernation.
Bears wake up, ready to tackle
life’s challenge after the winter
sleep.
However,
we retire from one thing
and
engage in another.
There
is no quietness to it.
Worlds
once neglected
open to
exploration—
to becoming
a mother again,
reliving
childhood’s innocence
through
a grandchild.
We
release the genie long locked up.
The
road, not taken, beckons with its mysteries.
Tasks
are chosen, not thrust upon us.
Deadlines
are allowed to come and go,
as you please.
Retirement
is not heaven.
Nature
will force us
into
its boxing ring.
Retirement
is the shedding of old skin
and
basking in the new as we race
beyond lifted
boundaries
into new
horizons.
© Althea
Romeo-Mark 27.08.2012
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