Early Days Of Retirement

My last day arrives - and the farewells are spoken!
Before me in days, months and years
There stretches a future of leisure unbroken:
How welcome the prospect appears!

A wonderful change from exhaustion and pressure!
A feeling of utter relief!
Each morning I wake from my sleep feeling fresher -
But respite is only too brief.

For time must be spent on decisions financial
Requiring close study and thought;
The effort these matters demand is substantial,
And expert advice must be sought.

So life is a series of strange new adventures,
With salesmen persuasive and brisk
Extolling the merits of bonds and debentures
Involving the minimum of risk.

At last, after prudent and careful arranging,
At a suitable plan I arrive,
But rules and requirements, so constantly changing,
Need watching! And so to survive

You have to be vigilant, cautious and active
The tempo is rapid and tense!
Retirement in concept is highly attractive
But when will it really commence?

Gilbert H Brown, 1990

(kind permission given by his family to use this poem)