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The Retirement Poems Café
(Traditional and Modern Inspirational Retirement Poems)
Welcome to The Retirement Poems Café, the webpage that brings you the best inspirational
retirement poems and retirement party verse for the retired or soon-to-be retired man, woman, teacher, school principal, nurse, military person, soldier,
policeman, firefighter, pastor, letter carrier, etc. Best of all, these are all free retirement poems that you can use as ideas to write your own.
Traditional Retirement Poem
Here is a retirement poem to inspire you to greater heights, regardless
of your age and your occupation:
Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved the earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
— from Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson
Three Modern Retirement Poems
You can always pen your own retirement poems either about
yourself or for someone else. If written for a retiring colleague,
your retirement poems should express affection for the person leaving
and recognition for their contributions. Here is a short corny retirement
poem written for a retiring colleague:
Bill Hagen, work is now past you
Allow me these words to say
You are now free as a bird,
Today is your retirement day.
— Dave Erhard
Retirement is the time of your life
for you to be
all that you planned to be.
To live life for the moment
to live happy, wild, and free.
— Dave Erhard
Here is a retirement poem of a different nature:
Retirement Poem about the Right Retirement Gift to Give to Retirees
You can say it with flowers
You can say it with wine
But to make her stinkin' sentimental
Say it with a Lincoln Continental.
— Robert Byrne
Funny Retirement Poems
Here is a retirement poem that hopefully won't deject you too much about your upcoming retirement:
An Ode to Old Age
There's quite an art to falling apart as the years go by,
And life doesn't begin at 40.
That's a big fat lie.
My hair's getting thinner, my body is not:
The few teeth I have are beginning to rot.
I smell of Vick's Vapo Rub, not Chanel #5;
My new pacemaker's all that keeps me alive.
When asked of my past, every detail I'll know,
But, what was I doing 10 minutes ago?
Well, you get the idea, what more can I say?
I'm off to read the obituary, like I do every day;
If my names there, I'll once again start -
perfecting the art of falling apart.
— Unknown Wise Person
A Modern Retirement Poem for
an Employees Retirement Party
Here is a retirement poem that is a little more positive about being retired whether you are looking for teacher retirement poems, principal retirement poems, or general humorous being retired poems.:
Making the Most of Retirement
Goodbye to work, you are on a high — you don't have to ask why!
You now gladly say adieu to your working life — goodbye to toil and strife.
Tomorrow, when morning comes at noon, you will lie in bed and look up at the ceiling.
There will be no one there to give you orders or more work — what a great feeling.
As the noon sun shines through your window, you will hear a dog bark and the noise of someone's feet.
It's the letter carrier, poor working soul, delivering your mail, you can hear him in the street.
Within you will come a warming glow — your new life will have just begun.
This is the day that you have looked forward to — knowing that all your work has been done.
Shortly, you will arise, get dressed, relax — there's still time left in the day for much merry-making.
You will make the most of it — knowing that most of your friends are at work stressed and mentally aching.
Will there be any reason to feel any stress or guilt at this time of your life?
Only when you forget to wake up early and make breakfast for your poor working wife.
— Dave Erhard
Traditional Poem to Help You Enjoy Your Retirement Living
The following words of this poem were penned over 100 years ago by poet and writer Rudyard Kipling (perhaps better known for creating The Jungle Book:
I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who."
— Rudyard Kipling
Of course, this is not a retirement poem in the strictest sense of the term. This poem, however, can provide the ideas and basis for creating the retirement poem for a school principal, teacher retirement poems, etc. or for motivating you to enjoy your retirement years.
A Modern Retirement Poem
The origins of this Irish Poem about retirement is unknown:
May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
— Irish Retirement Blessing
More Free Retirement Poems — Four
Retirement Poems by Famous People
Here are four retirement poems by famous people:
#1 of Four Retirement Poems
by Famous People
An elegant sufficiency, content,
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Ease and alternate labour, useful life,
Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven!
— James Thomson, 1700-1748, Spring
#2 of Four Retirement Poems
by Famous People
Don't you stay at home of evenings?
Don't you love a cushioned seat
In a corner, by the fireside, with your slippers on your feet?
— Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr
#3 of Four Retirement Poems
by Famous People
Fear no more the heat o' th' sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages.
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone and ta'en thy wages.
— William Shakespeare
#4 of Four Retirement Poems
by Famous People
O, blest retirement! Friend to life's decline -
How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these,
A youth of labor with an age of ease!
— Goldsmith
A Modern Retirement Poem Penned by a Retiree in Singapore
Here is a poem written by a retiree who resides in Singapore.
Ode to Retirement
I can read and write and paint.
Can even aspire to be a saint.
Left alone,
I could travel, teach and tutor.
Share guide and mentor Someone.
You my friends can remain blind
And kind
Or see in me a New find
Making again a difference.
— Ramasami Natarajan
A Humorous Retirement Poem Penned by an Unknown Retiree
Here is another poem written by a soon-to-be retiree who doesn't know when he will be a senior — whatever that is:
Retirement — It's All in How You
Play the Game, Isn't It?
Let's see now. How will I know when I am a senior.
Hmmmmmmm.....
Some places give me a senior's discount at 55, some at 60 and some
at 65.
My government pension will be sent to me when I am 65.
My company will arbitrarily retire me at 65. (I'm going to beat them
to the punch and retire at 60.)
So that means that parts of our society think 'senior' begins at 55.
How will I personally know?
Well, with a little bit of luck, I don't think I'll ever know.
It's all in how you play the game, isn't it?
— Unknown wise person
Retirement Poem for School Principal or Any One Who Wants to Enjoy Not Being Married
I would be married, but I'd have no wife.
I would be married to the single life.
— Richard Crashaw (Poet in 17th Century)
A Retirement Poem by John Milton
On His Blindness
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."
— John Milton
Two Principal Retirement Poems
Learn to live well, or fairly make your will;
You've played, and loved, and ate, and drunk your fill:
Walk sober off; before a sprightlier age
Comes tittering on, and shoves you from the stage:
Leave such to trifle with more grace and ease,
Whom Folly pleases, and whose Follies please.
— Alexander Pope (1688-1744), English satirical poet.
Absence of occupation is not rest.
A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd.
— William Cowper
Two Retirement Poems with a Zen Flavor
Ten thousand flowers in spring
the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer,
snow in winter.
If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life.
— Wu-men
Youth, large, lusty, loving-
Youth, full of grace, force, fascination.
Do you know that Old Age may come after you with equal grace, force,
fascination?
— Walt Whitman
Retirement Party Verse by Yeats
When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
— William Butler Yeats
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10 Retirement Quotes to
Substitute for Retirement Poems
Like a retirement poem or retirement party verse, a good quote about retirement can bring attention to the point you are making in your retirement card or retirement speech. Here are seven retirement quotes that you may want to consider:
#1 of Seven Retirement Quotes to Use
as Retirement Party Verse
But what, it may be asked, are the requisites for a life of retirement? A man may be weary of the toils and torments of business, and yet
quite unfit for the tranquil retreat. Without literature, friendship,
and religion, retirement is in most cases found to be a dead, flat
level, a barren waste, and a blank. Neither the body nor the soul
can enjoy health and life in a vacuum.
— Richter
#2 of Seven Retirement Quotes as
Good as Retirement Poems
Sex is Number 1 of my Top 10 joys in retirement. Number 2 is reading
How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free. I forgot the other 8.
— from Graffiti for the Enlightened Soul
#3 of Seven Retirement Quotes to
Use as Retirement Party Verse
Retirement is wonderful if you have two essentials — much to live
on and much to live for. I believe that I now have both.
— Unknown wise person
#4 of Seven Retirement Quotes as
Good as Retirement Poems
By the age of 65, most of us have accomplished whatever work-related
goals we are going to reach. If you haven't done it by then, chances
are you aren't going to do it. Take the retirement, take the pension,
take the Social Security, and sail off into the sunset.
— Sue Lasky
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#5 of Seven Retirement Quotes as
Good as Retirement Poems
Retirement is a time to make the inner journey and come face to face with your flaws, failures, prejudices, and all the factors that generate thoughts of unhappiness. Retirement is not a time to sleep, but a time to awaken to the beauty of the world around you and the joy that comes when you cast out all the negative elements that cause confusion and turmoil in your mind and allow serenity to prevail.
— Howard Salzman
#6 of Seven Retirement Quotes as
Good as Retirement Poems
I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think,
all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all
the friends I want to see.
— John Burrough
#7 of Seven Quotes That Can Be
Used as Retirement Party Verse
Age [along with retirement] appears to be best in four things — old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.
— Francis Bacon
Again, poems about retirement can add a lot of humor and body to retirement dinner speeches, but so can quotations about retirement. Go to the home page on this website and you will find many more quotations ideal to add to your retirement cards or retirement party ideas.
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A Teacher Retirement Poem by Richard Armour
Retired is being twice tired, I've thought
First tired of working,
Then tired of not.
— Richard Armour
A Teacher Retirement Motto
I Used to Teach — Now I Have No Class.
— Author Unknown
A Retirement Poem by Robert Browning
Grow old with me!
The best is yet to be.
— Robert Browning
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Retirement Poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Age is opportunity no less,
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away,
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Enjoy the Spring of Love and Youth,
To some good angel leave the rest;
For Time will teach thee soon the truth,
There are no birds in last year's nest!
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Retirement Poems for the School Principal or Any Other Retiree Who Wants to Truly Enjoy the Moment When He or She Retires
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own;
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today.
— John Dryden
No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.
— John Greenleaf Whittier
Glad that I live am I;
That the sky is blue;
Glad for the country lanes,
And the fall of dew.
— Lizette W. Reese
“People report being happier when they are with friends than when they’re with a spouse or child,” according to research cited in a recent cover story in
Psychology Today magazine. This, indeed, is something for retirees to ponder. Since friendship is an important aspect of having a happy retirement, retirees should check out the:
Friendship Poems on the Friendship Café
Coming Soon:
- More Humorous Retirement Poems
- Tips on How to Write a Retirement Poem
- More Funny Retirement Poems
Also see:
Retirement Poems on The Retirement Cafe by Ernie Zelinski
Retiree's Poem (or Lament
about Retirement)
Late to rise
Early to bed
Collect that pension
Before you're dead.
— Author Unknown
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