The Feeling of Contentment is Hard Won

The feeling of contentment is hard won.
The children grown and money in the bank,
The task of grading papers finally done,
My long career has gone into the tank.

I've rid the basement of our store of books,
They fill one half of our two car garage.
The many tests my doting students took
All vanished now, a scholarly mirage.

So where is the peace my thirty years have earned?
Why do I rise at five each school day,
While thoughts of classes on my mind still turn,
Classes o'er which I really had no say?

Retirement is a lovely perk,
But I still feel like I'm at work.

--James D. Starkey