Retirement

It's a terrible change
After forty years
Of getting up
When the first frost
Has trapped the dew.
No one knows what it's like.
I see a man beside me
Couldn't wait to get out,
And now he's like
A tiger in a cage.
There are days
When no one calls
And we wait for someone,
Anyone, to bring the news.
It's a terrible change
When the mat is pulled,
And you return unprepared
To where you started,
To an echo-chamber
Where once you laughed
With children.