Retirement Poems

Retirement Poems

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clasp its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress.
- William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium

When I can look Life in the eyes,
Grown calm and very coldly wise,
Life will have given me the Truth,
And taken in exchange - my youth.
- Sara Teasdale

Another Retirement Poem

TERMINUS
Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is time to be old,
To take in sail:--
The god of bounds,
Who sets to seas a shore,
Came to me in his fatal round,
And said: 'No more!
No farther spread
Thy broad ambitious branches, and thy root.
Fancy departs: no more invent,
Contract thy firmament
To compass of a tent.
There's not enough for this and that,
Make thy option which of two;
Economize the failing river,
Not the less revere the Giver,
Leave the many and hold the few.

As the bird trims her to the gale,
I trim myself to the storm of time,
I man the rudder, reef the sail,
Obey the voice at eve obeyed at prime:
'Lowly faithful, banish fear,
Right onward drive unharmed;
The port, well worth the cruise, is near,
And every wave is charmed.'

Famous Retirement Poems

"Warning, When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple" has become a global phenomenon! Elizabeth Lucas has published her calligraphic
version of the poem nationally since 1984.
This poem that speaks of growing old in a wonderfully outrageous style was written in 1961 by Jenny Joseph who lives in Minchinhampton, England.

The poem is popularly known by many titles including, of course, the actual title "Warning", as well as by "When I Am An Old Woman", "The Purple Poem", "Old Woman", "I Shall Wear Purple", simply "Purple" and by other affectionate names.

Before you write your retirement poem for your retirement party also Check out:

Why MONEY TALKS When You Retire

and

LOVE A RECESSION - OR ELSE!

and

Ernie Zelinski's Retirement Articles on American Chronicle

THE WORLD'S BEST RETIREMENT BOOK

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor by Ernie Zelinski

With a focus on the non-financial aspects of retirement, How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free explores the myriad choices and decisions we are all confronted with in living out our retirement lives. Easy to read and well laid out, the bestselling non-financial retirement book on Amazon.com emphasizes preparing for retirement long before you retire. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is a provocative, entertaining, down-to-earth, and tremendously inspiring book that will help you get more joy and satisfaction out of all your retirement activities.

"Get this book if you look forward to a retirement with 'zing.' "
-Nancy Paradis, St. Petersburg Times

OVER 110,000 COPIES SOLD

PUBLISHED IN 9 LANGUAGES INCLUDING GREEK, KOREAN, RUSSIAN, CHINESE (BOTH SIMPLIFIED AND TRADITIONAL CHARACTERS) FRENCH, AND SPANISH



Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski on Amazon.com with this direct link:

THE WORLD'S BEST RETIREMENT BOOK on Amazon.com

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski
on BarnesandNoble.com with this direct link:

THE WORLD'S BEST RETIREMENT BOOK on BarnesandNoble

Having a happy retirement depends on many other factors including having a few best friends to share time with once you retire.

To accompany the retirement poems on this webpage, here are some FRIENDSHIP POEMS that come from THE FRIENDSHIP CAFE.

Friendship Poem #1

From quiet homes and first beginning,
Out to the undiscovered ends,
There's nothing worth the wear of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends.
- Hilaire Belloc

Friendship Poem #2

Today a man discovered gold and fame,
Another flew the stormy seas;
One found the germ of a disease.
But what high fates my path attend:
For I - today I found a friend.
- Helen Barker Parker

Friendship Poem #1

Scatter seeds of kindness everywhere you go;
Scatter bits of courtesy - watch them grow and grow.
Gather buds of friendship;
Keep them till full-blown;
You will find more happiness
than you have ever known.
- Amy R. Raabe

For More Great Retirement Poems See

The RETIREMENT POEMS CAFE

IN MEMORIAM by Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

O-NIGHT the winds begin to rise
And roar from yonder dropping day;
The last red leaf is whirl'd away,
The rooks are blown about the skies;

The forest crack'd, the waters curl'd,
The cattle huddled on the lea;
And wildly dash'd on tower and tree
The sunbeam strikes along the world:

And but for fancies, which aver
That all thy motions gently pass
Athwart a plane of molten glass,
I scarce could brook the strain and stir

That makes the barren branches loud;
And but for fear it is not so,
The wild unrest that lives in woe
Would dote and pore on yonder cloud

That rises upward always higher,
And onward drags a laboring breast,
And topples round the dreary west,
A looming bastion fringed with fire.

XXX

With trembling fingers did we weave
The holly round the Christmas hearth;
A rainy cloud possess'd the earth,
and sadly fell on Christmas-eve.

At our old pastimes in the hall
We gamboll's, making vain pretence
Of gladness, with an awful sense
Of one mute Shadow watching all.

We paused: the winds were in the beech:
We heard them sweep the winter land;
And in a circle hand-in-hand
Sat silent, looking each at each.

Then echo-like our voices rang;
We sung, tho' every eye was dim,
A merry song we sang to him
Last year; impetuously we sang.

We ceased; a gentler feeling crept
Upon us: surely rest is meet.
'They rest,' we said, 'their sleep is sweet,'
And silence follow'd, and we wept.

Our voices took a higher range;
Once more we sang: 'They do not die
Nor lose their mortal sympathy,
Nor change to us, altho' they change;

'Rapt from the fickle and the frail
With gather'd power, yet the same,
Pierces the keen seraphic flame
From orb to orb, from veil to veil.'

Rise, happy morn, rise, holy morn,
Draw forth the cheerful day from night:
O Father, touch the east, and light
The light that shone when Hope was born.

CXXXI

O living will that shall endure
When all that seems shall suffer shock,
Rise in the spiritual rock,
Flow thro' our deeds and make them pure,

That we may lift from out of dust
A voice as unto him that hears,
A cry above the conquer'd years
To one that with us works, and trust,

With faith that comes of self-control,
The truths that never can be proved
Until we close with all we loved,
And all we flow from, soul to soul.

The Joy of Not Working : A Book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked by Ernie Zelinski

The Joy of Not Working is all about learning to live every part of your life - employment, unemployment, retirement, and leisure time alike - to the fullest. You too can join the thousands of converts and learn to thrive at both work and play. Illustrated by eye-opening exercises, thought-provoking diagrams, and lively cartoons and quotations, The Joy of Not Working will guide you to enjoy life like never before.

Top 10 Reasons to Buy The Joy of Not Working

1. You are more independent and more creative than most people.

2. You were born a lover of life and not a workaholic.

3. You don't want the cheese; you just want to get out of the trap.

4. You like books that are reader friendly with lots of cartoons, quotations, and exercises.

5. You like books that make you smile and challenge traditional ways of living and thinking.

6. You agree with the words of Bertrand Russell: "To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the best product of civilization."

7. You are receptive to the concept that we can achieve more if we relax, enjoy life more, forget about what the majority in society thinks is important, and focus on the things that really matter.

8. Your parents and co-workers will not approve of your adopting this book as your lifestyle Bible.

9. You know a good deal when you see one - if a book has been published in 17 languages in 20 different countries and has sold over 225,000 copies, it must have great value.

10. You know something important that the hard workers of this world don't know: the secret to a happy and fulfilling life is to work smart and not hard.

This short review of The Joy of Not Working comes from the United States Department of State.

"A delightful indictment of workaholism and ways to counteract it. The author views unemployment as a true test of who one really is."
- U.S. Department of State Book Reviews

Purchase The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com with this direct link:

The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com

Retirement Wishes and Retirement Sentiments

Where to Retire

Jobs in Retirement

Top-Ten Reasons to Retire Early

The Principal Retirement Poems Café

The Retirement Letters Café

THE WORLD'S BEST RETIREMENT BOOK HAS BEEN PURCHASED BY THE THOUSANDS BY SUCH COMPANIES AS ALLSTATE FINANCIAL

Top 10 Reasons to Buy and Read How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

1. You are ready to claim your freedom from corporate life.

2. You want to follow your retirement dreams instead of someone else's.

3. As a spiritually and highly evolved human being you know that how to enjoy life to its fullest is much more important for creating an active, satisfying, and happy retirement than how much money you have saved.

4. Many retirement columnists and retirement seminar presenters have ranted and raved about this book. For instance, retirement columnist Nancy Paradis of the St. Petersburg Times in Florida advises, "Get this book if you look forward to a retirement with 'zing.' "

5. With it's great title and the inspirational subtile, this book makes the perfect retirement gift for the soon-to-be retired friend or for the person retiring at the office.

6. You agree that "Retirement is the beginning of life, not the end."

7. You have put money in proper perspective so that you don't need a million dollars to retire.

8. You want to generate great purpose in your entire retirement life with meaningful, creative pursuits.

9. You like finding extremely useful information about retirement such as The Get-a-Life Tree that you won't find in any other book, but which is acclaimed by people who have read How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

10. Above all, you want to make your retirement years the best years of your life.

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com with this direct link:

THE WORLD'S BEST RETIREMENT BOOK on Amazon.com

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on BarnesandNoble.com with this direct link:

THE WORLD'S BEST RETIREMENT BOOK ON Barnes and Noble.com

COME DOWN, O MAID by Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

COME down, O maid, from yonder mountain height:
What pleasure lives in height (the shepherd sang),
In height and cold, the splendour of the hills?
But cease to move so near the Heavens, and cease
To glide a sunbeam by the blasted Pine,
To sit a star upon the sparkling spire;
And come, for Love is of the valley, come,
For Love is of the valley, come thou down
And find him; by the happy threshold, he,
Or hand in hand with Plenty in the maize,
Or red with spirted purple of the vats,
Or foxlike in the vine; nor cares to walk
With Death and Morning on the silver horns,
Nor wilt thou snare him in the white ravine,
Nor find him dropt upon the firths of ice,
That huddling slant in furrow-cloven falls
To roll the torrent out of dusky doors:
But follow; let the torrent dance thee down
To find him in the valley; let the wild
Lean-headed Eagles yelp alone, and leave
The monstrous ledges there to slope, and spill
Their thousand wreaths of dangling water-smoke
That like a broken purpose waste in air:
So waste not thou; but come; for all the vales
Await thee; azure pillars of the hearth
Arise to thee; the children call, and I
Thy shepherd pipe, and sweet is every sound,
Sweeter thy voice, but every sound is sweet;
Myriads of rivulets hurrying thro' the lawn,
The moan of doves is immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumberable bees.

Also See:
Retirement Letters from Readers of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

Retirement Jobs - The traditional Top Ten Retirement Jobs and the Top Ten Cool Retirement Jobs

5 More Reasons to Buy and Read How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

1. You want to have a good day - everyday - when you retire!

2. You "Absolutely, Positively" want to retire happy, wild, and free.

3. You want to inspire yourself with new accomplishments once you retire.

4. You want to gain the courage to take early retirement - in fact, the earlier, the better.

5. You have always wanted to fire your boss and take control of your destiny.

Sonnet 16 XVI

When I consider how my light is spent,
E're half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide,
Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, least he returning chide,
Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd,
I fondly ask; But patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts, who best
Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o're Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and waite.

Sonnet XIX: When I Consider How my Light is Spent

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."

Download over half of THE WORLD'S BEST RETIREMENT BOOK
and several other Retirement E-books (in PDF format) by Ernie Zelinski at Free Retirement E-books at The Real Success Resource Center

Over 110,000 Copies Sold and Published in 8 Foreign Languages

"To be sure, retirement books are a glutted field, but most focus on money and financial planning. They view the finish line as the last day of employment. That's where How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free begins."
- Jonathan Chevreau, Retirement Columnist, National Post

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com with this direct link:

THE WORLD'S BEST RETIREMENT BOOK on Amazon.com

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on BarnesandNoble.com with this direct link:

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on BarnesandNoble

Age
Most explicit--
the sense of trap

as a narrowing
cone one's got

stuck into and
any movement

forward simply
wedges once more--

but where
or quite when,

even with whom,
since now there is no one

quite with you--Quite? Quiet?
English expression: Quait?

Language of singular
impedance? A dance? An

involuntary gesture to
others not there? What's

wrong here? How
reach out to the

other side all
others live on as

now you see the
two doctors, behind

you, in mind's eye,
probe into your anus,

or ass, or bottom,
behind you, the roto-

rooter-like device
sees all up, concludes

"like a worn-out inner tube,"
"old," prose prolapsed, person's

problems won't do, must
cut into, cut out . . .

The world is a round but
diminishing ball, a spherical

ice cube, a dusty
joke, a fading,

faint echo of its
former self but remembers,

sometimes, its past, sees
friends, places, reflections,

talks to itself in a fond,
judgemental murmur,

alone at last.
I stood so close

to you I could have
reached out and

touched you just
as you turned

over and began to
snore not unattractively,

no, never less than
attractively, my love,

my love--but in this
curiously glowing dark, this

finite emptiness, you, you, you
are crucial, hear the

whimpering back of
the talk, the approaching

fears when I may
cease to be me, all

lost or rather lumped
here in a retrograded,

dislocating, imploding
self, a uselessness

talks, even if finally to no one,
talks and talks.

- Robert Creeley

5 STUPID REASONS NOT TO READ HOW TO RETIRE HAPPY, WILD, AND FREE WHICH IS THE WORLD'S BEST RETIREMENT BOOK AND THE WORLD'S BEST RETIREMENT GIFT:

1. You think that all you need is a lot of money to be happy in retirement.

2. You don't think there is any more to retirement than being able to watch a lot of TV, being able to go to the casino a lot, and being able to sleep when you want to.

3. You have read another retirement book already and you didn't like it.

4. You are in the retirement industry and although you will likely learn a lot from this book, you are envious of the fact that it has sold over 95,000 copies and been pubished in 7 foreign languges. (You know that if this book has been this successful, it is a great book - in fact, you wish you would have written it.)

5. You find it uncomfortable to read books that challenge your beliefs even though deep down you know that people who challenge your beliefs are often right and can offer you a lot of wisdom about how to retire happy, wild, and free.

Over 110,000 Copies Sold

Published in 9 Languages

The Author Promises You . . . This!

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free reveals the secrets to a happy retirement like no other retirement book does. This is the reason it is the bestselling non-financial retirement book on Amazon.com.

So often, the secrets to happiness are all around us, but it isn't until much later that we realize their significance.

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free reveals the 'invisible' secrets to you and opens doorways to your retirement future that will otherwise stay locked up until it is too late.

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski on Amazon.com with this direct link:

BEST RETIREMENT BOOK IN THE WORLD on Amazon.com

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski
on BarnesandNoble.com with this direct link:

HOW TO RETIRE HAPPY, WILD, AND FREE on BarnesandNoble

These are the most popular terms used for retirement related searches:

• retirement poem for school principal
• teacher retirement poems
• free retirement poems
• retirement poems jokes
• principal retirement poems
• funny retirement poems

Growing Old
It is to spend long days
And not once feel that we were ever young.
It is to add, immured
In the hot prison of the present, month
To month with weary pain.
- Mathew Arnolds

First Three Lines of Do not go gentle into that good night

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Visit one of Ernie Zelinski's Blogs:

Retirement Planning Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor

Retirement Living Made Easy - It's All about The Joy of Not Working

Don't waste too much time and energy worrying about getting older.
The point is that if you spend a lot of time preparing for old age,
old age will come a lot sooner than you would like. Most centurians
don't know why they have lived so long and don't care.

In response to why she's lived so long, 100-year-old Hazel Etherington of Lynchburg, Virginia replied, "I'm not sure. I think maybe it's the pacemaker."

Here are some more quotes:

Am I older than dirt? I knew dirt when it was still a rock!
- Unknown wise person

Now that I'm older I thought it was great that I seemed to have more
patience. Turns out I just don't give a shit.
- Unknown wise person

For a happy day, look for something bright and beautiful in nature.
Listen for a beautiful sound, speak a kind word to some person, and
do something nice for someone without their knowledge.
- Unknown 85-year-old Wise Retired Person

We've entered a new age of old age. The possibility of experiencing positive,
vital aging lasting into our tenth decade of life is one of the new
realities of the 21st century.
- James Firman, Ed.D., President and CEO of NCOA

For More Great Retirement Quotes and Sayings See

The RETIREMENT QUOTES CAFE

Retirement is the perfect time to become the person you would like to be and do the things you have always wanted to do.

No doubt doing everything you have always wanted to do sounds great. t won't happen by itself, however. This is true even if you have excellent health and a big pile of money in the bank when you retire.

Above all, this book celebrates retirement because it's the beginning of a new life. Retirement is an opportune time to get to know yourself better - psychologically, materially, and spiritually.

Moreover, retirement allows you to do what you don't like as little as possible and what you like as much as possible. Whatever it is - a part-time career, family relationships, spiritual fulfillment, passionate pursuits, or the opportunity to hang around Starbucks writing a book - you must find those things that matter most to
you.

The Best Retirement Book in the World That Makes the Best Retirement Gift That You Can Give Yourself!

O ver 110,000 Copies Sold

P ublished in 9 Languages

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski on Amazon.com with this direct link:

BEST RETIREMENT BOOK IN THE WORLD on Amazon.com

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski
on BarnesandNoble.com with this direct link:

HOW TO RETIRE HAPPY, WILD, AND FREE on BarnesandNoble

The following are resources by the author of The World's Best Retirement Book:

Ernie Zelinski Photos on Library Thing
Ernie Zelinski on LinkedIn
Love Quotes for Retirement
Friendship Poems for Retirement
Retirement E-books by Ernie Zelinski on YouPublish
Ernie Zelinski's Bio on Open Library

The Unconventional Career Book

CAREER SUCCESS WITHOUT A REAL JOB
BY
VIP BOOKS

CAREER SUCCESS WITHOUT A REAL JOB: THE CAREER BOOK FOR PEOPLE TOO SMART TO WORK IN CORPORATIONS

Career Success Without a Real Job provides guidance for all those retirees and soon-to-be-retired individuals who want to continue working in retirement but not in a traditional corporate job.

This revolutionary career book challenges and inspires people to create their own dream job or operate an unconventional business with which they can make a great living.

Positive, lively, and captivating, this career guide is designed to help ambitious and creative people live an extraordinary lifestyle that is the envy of the corporate world!

Purchase Career Success Without a Real Job with this direct link:

Career Success Without a Real Job at Amazon.com
.

Check out:

Career Success Without a Real Job on Twitter