Farewell Poem Samples

Write a farewell poem, look like a genius!

Is it easy?

Well, the words might be just as hard to come as for any farewell message or speech, but the fact that poems are structured will narrow your focus and give you a start point.

Whoops, I was actually looking for teacher retirement poems!

The more structure your poem has, the narrower your focus, and you'll find this restriction a good thing if you have too much to say and no way to say it.

Structures include rhymes, rhythm and style, such as those in a haiku, limerick/ditty, couplets or sonnets.

No, your poem doesn't have to rhyme.  And it can be any free form you like.

No, it doesn't have to be original - you can grab a classic poem and replace some words.

Funny Goodbye Poem to a Family Moving Town

It must have been 5 year ago
The Gwitky's moved here from abroad
Now we have to watch them go
And we will surely miss them so

Besides Marge, Sam and little Margot
I'll feel the loss of Sam's lawnmower
No longer rusting in my shed
It'll help a new friend instead

I'd like mention Marge's sculptures
That had the whole street in raptures
Your yard was the only one not the same
And it put my garden gnomes to shame

So fare thee well and best of luck
Moving On takes a lot of pluck
It won't be easy to forget you
And we know you'll miss us too.

How would you explain to a child? Consider this gentle illustrated poem collection.

Limerick Funny Poems: Farewell to the Office

• I worked 9 years in the basement
  Where the days were quiet and ambient
  But my last day is here
  I have to say with a tear
  That I have been made redundant.



• There was a company in the middle of town
  Where shenanigans always went down
  I'll miss all the jokes
  the pranks and the folks
  So thanks for the good times all round.

Haiku Goodbye

Loaded car on the highway
Gasp at state lines
Oven still on

*

No more gold watches
Hundreds of Post-It pads
squirreled away.

Are you, or do you know someone who is, retiring?  

Check out these retirement poems.

Famous Poems

What should I Say By Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)

What should I say, 

Since faith is dead, 

And truth away 

From you is fled? 

Should I be led 

With doubleness? 

Nay, nay, mistress! 

I promised you, 

And you promised me, 

To be as true 

As I would be. 

But since I see 

Your double heart, 

Farewell my part! 

Though for to take 

It is not my mind, 

But to forsake 

[One so unkind] 

And as I find, 

So will I trust: 

Farewell, unjust! 

Can ye say nay? 

But you said 

That I alway 

Should be obeyed? 

And thus betrayed 

Or that I wiste— 

Farewell, unkissed. 

The Rhinoceros by Ogden Nash

The Rhino is a homely beast,
For human eyes he’s not a feast,
But you and I will never know
Why Nature chose to make him so.
Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,
I’ll stare at something less prepoceros.

Ah Ogden, what a gas you are!  

Check out funny retirement verses here.

Song of the Open Road (excerpt) By Walt Whitman (1892)

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, 

Healthy, free, the world before me, 

The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose. 

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune, 

Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, 

Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms, 

Strong and content I travel the open road. 

The earth, that is sufficient, 

I do not want the constellations any nearer, 

I know they are very well where they are, 

I know they suffice for those who belong to them. 

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens, 

I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go, 

I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them, 

I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.) 

Actually I am feeling emotional - bring on the sad poems...