Psalm #74
(John Henry"s lament)
A man
was famous
as he had lifted up his ax
upon the thick
trees
But now they break his carvings
with the hammers of
machines.
Psalm #143
(auld lang
syne)
I meditate, muse,
remember, I remember
all
the days of old.
My spirit faileth, hear me.
I stretch
forth my hands to thee.
Psalm #71
(a song
against retirement)
When I am old and
grey headed, cast
me not out
until I show strength
to the new generation
and the one that is to come
Psalm #103
(a
song for retirement)
All diseases healed,
like the eagle
youth renewed
crowned with mercy sweet.
E`en so pity on our
frame.
God remembers we are dust.
Psalm #103
(for post-retirement)
All flesh is as grass.
For lo
the grass withereth,
the flower decays,
the wind passes, we
are gone,
and the world knows us no more.
Psalm
#8
(a song for retirees)
The days of our years
are three score and ten - by strength
they will be four
score.
Teach us to number our days
That our hearts match
our wisdom.
Psalm #6
(a song for
rheumatics)
Weary and groaning,
eyes weak, bones
vexed,waxing old,
swimming in my tears.
In death is no
memory,
In the grave there is no thanks.
Psalm
102
(a song for wise old birds)
I watch and I
wait
like an owl of the desert,
withered and alone,
a
wilderness pelican,
a bullfinch on the housetop.
Sophocles Psalm
(the last words of Oedipus)
At
that final day,
with life`s last milestone passing,
count
no man happy
unless he finds, life at death,
a memory
without pain.