piece d'retirement....

This is a very old song. Inserted here only because the times we are in prompted my memory.

piece d’retirement

At his retirement party, well they handed him a watch
And told him that there was no pension fund
All the lawyer said was that the union had been bled
And some white-collar type was on the run

And he thought about the time, way back in ‘89
When he chickened-out and went against the strike
There was no seniority, just three kids and a wife
And he thought, well this kinda serves me right

So he got up the next morning, ran the sweeper round the house
An’ headed for the cafe for some brunch
As he sat there watchin’ people watch cholesterol counts
He remembers when they used to call it lunch

And he thinks on all the blessings and all of the cliche
That come with the territory of old age
And wonders if it’s not too late for lightning to strike twice,
Grant him wealth and wisdom, and a twenty-year-old wife

When life begins at forty and you missed the startin’ gate
What happens when you’re sixty and the rent check’s two weeks late
And the monthly security society provides
Leaves you cleanin’ toilets at Six-Fifty-Five

An hour, a day, a month, a year; life is so much fun
Condemned to drinkin’ decafe and watchin’ ol’ reruns
He savors life’s last bite before retiring for the night
And sits down beside the bed to clean the gun
He sits there in that rocking chair
And carefully begins to clean the gun

© D. Dain, circa 1987(?)