But I'm Retired

The double standard alive and well in old age.

But I am Retired

 

By Elton Camp

 

From far too many old men that I know,

If wife wants help, this is how it will go

Because they have been put on the dole

Virtual inactivity had become the goal

 

Even if the wife has worked as long as he,

No reason to share housework can he see

She is supposed to wash, cook, and clean

But to mow the yard, he just might deign

 

It seems to me this is simply quite unfair

In the housework he certainly should share

She doesn’t eat all the food or wear all clothes

Why shouldn’t he participate in jobs like those?

 

“Then how about you?” someone will surely say

In your home does it actually work out that way?

Yes.  I did a share of the housework even before

Now that I’m retired, I am doing a whole lot more

 

Every morning, a hot breakfast I carefully prepare

And at every meal, for washing dishes I take care

I would wash clothes, but that she won’t allow

Cause she doesn’t approve of my sorting somehow

 

But for the worst jobs that both of us have hated

To a weekly cleaning lady they now are delegated

I should work hard as her as far as I am able to see

Necessary tasks I think should really be gender free

 

But there are some things that I simply never choose

Never, ever would I think I should move her shoes

But if I happen to leave mine just inside the door,

They will vanish where I can’t find them anymore