Retirement is harder to prepare for
than work.
There is no masters degree
in productive leisure.
No community of practice
for the no longer practicing.
It's a sad sad spurn
when that place you went
can't be there for you any more
than you could have signed your own paychecks.
Independence and freedom are not
synonymous;
one's anonymous
while the other hates where it is.
Escape is a multilingual allegiance
to get out and then get out again
to live by migration
and die by stasis
sales make ex-change
into other people's money.
Numbers fail when the age gets high:
every additional day
is worth more than any hour's pay
and the puzzle pieces
are now obviously missing;
you'll never finish
but if you're careful
you might see that starting was worth
not another penny.
Roman Ryan 