Release

An ox released from its yoke was I On the day my son gained his first full time job That yoke of responsibility lifted from my shoulders A burden which had become Almost too difficult to bear The crushing weight removed Left me as light as air And free to follow My own star. No care home my mother would confine She who had striven to set her three sons Free from mind numbing drudgery. Now frail and cancer ridden In her own bed would she end her days Set up in our home Tended tenderly by my wife Death was a merciful release And peace was there in her passing On the very day she had seen her three boys Before slipping into her final sleep While it was a time to mourn It was also a time for joy As she slipped her mortal coil To release her soul For pain free eternity My last day of teaching Felt like I'd hit a brick wall I could go no further I could do no more It was the refusal Of a previously willing horse Now facing one jump too many No jockey,no trainer Could coax yet another circuit Out of the creature It was time to put him out to pasture With freedom to graze And gallop at his own pace