Love Poem: Not Just a Retirement Party
Jim Yerman Avatar
Written by: Jim Yerman

Not Just a Retirement Party

We attended a retirement party or a friend who won’t be teaching anymore.
He’s been teaching at the same school…since 1984.

We sat in the back and watched the people sharing laughter…sharing tears
with the man who has been changing lives for the last 35 years.

I watched him hug one person after another…I watched as other hands he clutched
and I thought here is a room full of people whose lives this man has touched..

I have no proof to back this up…but in my heart I believe it’s true
whenever a person touches your heart…a piece of that person stays with you.

When compassion, generosity and kindness between two people are exchanged
though they may not realize it at the time…both of them are changed.

And as I looked around the room…and listened to what was said…
I realized in its simplest form…this is how love is spread..

One drop in the ocean might not seem like much…but in reality
that one drop, that simple drop…can find it’s way across the sea…

I’m not sure how far his drops have traveled…how far his drops have roamed
but as I watched him at his retirement party…they found their way back home.

They returned to him in a smile, 
in a hug, 
in a poem
in the many ways he was caressed….
And as I watched countless people celebrate this one man 
I thought…
We all should be so blessed.