"Thoughts on Retirement"
("Traveler's Tale XLI")

Another Tale for your reading pleasure...  - poetheart 03/16/02

Mayhap 'tis time, an' past at that-
That I 'ung up me blade.
An' sought to walk a quieter path,
Pursue more mundane trade…

To spend me nights beneath a roof-
Not camped beside some trail.
To raise strong lads, to take me place-
Prolong the Traveler's Tale.

Aye, lad, 'tis been a mort o' years-
Since first I sallied forth…
To try me 'and at fightin', Aye-
East, west, and south, and north…

I've strode the streets o' tropic towns-
Drunk toasts in Moorish Spain-
Four years I served afore the mast,
Out on the Spanish Main.

North Africa 'as been me berth-
An' Inja's tropic clime-
The Sudan states were once me fate,
The lassies, ah, sublime!

Me body bears the scars an' marks-
O' arrow, ball, an' blade-
But, Pah! Wha' else can one expect-
When fightin' is 'is trade?

P'raps I'll wait a wee bit more-
Afore I doff me mail-
I've 'eard they're 'iring fightin' men,
So goes me Traveler's Tale.

by John R. Yaws

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