There’s so much to do.
There’s so much to see.
Time is an open book
Or the wind or a key.

Sure, I hear you say,
After one leaves one’s work
It’s easy to view
One’s life with a smirk.

But I mean what I say
I’m not being flip.
I retired; it’s not like
I jumped from a sinking ship.

“There’s so much to do”
Is a reference to
All the work, not the play,
That one could do each day.

Garrison has retired,
And Obama leaves soon,
I bet they won’t be found
Lazying around all afternoon.

The retiree feels the enormity
Of options for one’s time.
The myriad possibilities
Are out there…bigtime.

One could write poems that rhyme,
Songs that swing, or
Biographies that inform and enlighten,

Or one could read poems that rhyme,
Songs that swing,
And biographies that enlighten and inform.

You see what I mean?

One could practice the guitar.
And one could play and sing in a bar.
One could learn to play the bassoon
And play in a band or a saloon.

Choice is a two-edged sword
Of black and white.
A gift one looked forward to
But may not fit just right.

Choice and time together
Equal freedom of a sort.
And I hope to use them
As life’s second-half passport.

(It’s amazing what I can do with the Rhyming Dictionary…or maybe amazing isn’t the word)

P.S. Garrison Keillor’s last show on Prairie Home Companion was awesome this past Sunday. If you are up for the
complete show, click here. I suggest going to this link of individual segments of the show, however, which allows you to go right to President Obama’s phone call, one more Catchup commercial, or his last News From Lake Wobegon story.