Funeral Retirement Party
Construction workers, fishermen,
hands broadened,
reddened cracks in the wintertime,
teachers, office workers,
a standing cashier feels aging
in her legs,
careers extended.
Can it be just a few more years til
they have freedom,
to live on Social Security?
Paying off mortgages,
and children's student loans,
paying, paying.
Arthritis cream and knee replacement
surgeries,
their funeral will be their retirement party.
Groceries, housing costs have gone up,
while adult children still ask for
financial help.
Hoping their vehicles last a few more years,
hoping, hoping.
Their grandchildren depend on them,
when their parents don't fill the gaps,
aging in America, not for the faint hearted,
the sympathetic Lord will see them through,
as they hold on tightly,
Sunday dinner thanking Him for their endurance.
Their funeral will be their retirement party.
A gleaming white locomotive in the mists on the railway-
no work today, as it stops for them
to come aboard to Heaven. ~
Copyright ©
Regina Elliott
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