Poetic License: ‘The Passionate Retiree to His Beneficiary: Twenty Years After’
Rejoice with me for Sanibel!
Tis here we’ve spent our gold years well,
Preserving wetlands, beach and fields
With IRA’s and pension yields;
Our Sanctuary freed wild life
From human and survival strife,
And CROW was not a bird despised
But a place that helped wildlife survive.
‘Neath stars made bright by true dark skies
Toward which no high-rise dared to rise,
We stood guard over a turtle nest
With you decked out in Chico’s best.
Midst morning walks upon the beach,
With myriad shells within our reach,
And skin-so-soft as insect spray
To keep no-see-um gnats at bay,
We’d stop and stoop and sift and crouch,
Put periwinkles in a pouch,
Collect sand dollars, cones and pens
To send up north to freezing friends.
I cleared all permits and built for you
A mega-house just made for two,
With full garage and space for three:
Our golf cart, Beemer and SUV,
Erected a dock to awe inspire
And caged our pool with finest wire,
Our forty-footer cruised the seas
For snook and threatened manatees.
When snowbirds crowded us in the fall,
Slowed Periwinkle to a crawl,
We sat beside our cagd pool
And let our heated bodies cool.
And when the mercury dropped too far,
We frolicked in our Jacuzzi spa,
While outdoor speakers did softly play
To keep raccoons and rabbits away.
At end of season when the flow
Of sunshine tourists was at a low,
We dined in luxury and had fun
With Kiwanis coupons two for one.
On Periwinkle we cleared the path
Of devastation from Charlie’s wrath,
Restored the canopy and bowers
With palms and trees and native flowers.
Our causeway’s new, a tourist delight,
Curving like a bird in flight,
While pelicans glide and show the way
To magic beaches across the bay.
Twenty years we’ve lived in laid-back style
Upon our nature perfect isle,
A paradise where green dreams dwell –
Rejoice with me on Sanibel.