This is the retired life, indeed

This is the retired life, indeed

38

As the palm trees swayed
As the trade winds blew in
From the Caribbean Sea at sunset
On the Needham's Point Beach,
Near the Hilton Hotel in Barbados,
Sam Adams, a recent USG retiree
Relaxed on the beach chairs
As the sunset over the Western Sea.
He saw the fabled green flash
Giving into the sun
The tropical trade wind
Cooling things off a bit
Listening to the steel drum band
Playing pan
While a singer sang socca love songs
As people played on the beach
Or cooled off
With another Mount Guy rum sour
Thinking once again
This was it
This was life
This was retirement
In Paradise
He smiled at his wife
The love of his long life
Who smiled back at him
They got up and walked down
To the Friday fish fry restaurant
Then ordered two more rounds
Of Mount Guy rum sours
Two cold banks beers
Liming with their local Bajan friends
Enjoying a flying fish and cou cou platter
Including Bajan style chicken, cassava pone
Conch fritters and baked macaroni pie
.

Bajan is what people in Barbados call themselves, their language and culture
Mt Guy Rum is the oldest rum brand in the world brewed in Barbados
Banks Beer is a Trinidadian beer the most popular beer in the Caribbean
Liming is bajan slang for drinking with friends
Friday Fish Fry is a local institution on every Friday night throughout Barbados
Flying Fish is the most popular fish in Barbados and the Caribbean
Pan refers to the steel drum bands popular throughout the Caribbean originally from Trinidad
Socca refers to the Bajan style of Calypso/Reggae music – Calypso started in Trinidad and swept through the islands, and Reggae started in Jamaica.
The green flash is a weather phenomenon common in the tropics, as the sunsets in the winter months, if the sky is partially overcast, as the sun sets you might see the entire sky flash bright green for two seconds hence the green flash. I saw it three times,

Write a story or poem and include this line:

as the palm trees swayed

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