
What do you see nurses? What do you see?
What are you thinking ... when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man (woman), not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .... with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his (her) food ... and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice ... "I do wish you'd try!"
Who seems not to notice ...the things that you do.
And forever is losing ... A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not ... lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding ... The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse ... you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am ... As I sit here so still,
As I do ! at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten ... with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters ... who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen ..with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now ... a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty .... my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows ... that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now ... I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide. And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty ... My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other ... With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons ... have grown and are gone,
But my woman's (man's) beside me ... to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, ... Babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children ... My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me ... My wife (husband) is now dead.
I look at the future ...I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing ... young of their own.
And I think of the years ... And the love that I've known.
I'm now an old man (woman) ... and nature is cruel.
Tis jest to make old age ... look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles ... grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone ... where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass ... A young guy still dwells,
And now and again ... my battered heart swells
I remember the joys ... I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living ... life over again! .
I think of the years ... all too few ... gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact ... that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people ... open and see..
Not a crabby old man (woman) : look closer ... see ... ME!!
-Adapted from the famous anonymous author-
Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within ... we will all, one day, be there, too!
[The one thing of which I am certain is that lately the crabby old woman has moved from Dundee, Scotland to Tampa, Fla., has undergone a sex change and still remains anonymous. The latest version is of an old man who died in a Tampa, Fla., hospital with nothing left to give the world except a poem called “Crabby Old Man.” ~ http://www.newsreview.info/article/20070308/STAFFCOLUMNS/70308038]
[I can't find any reference, except in relation to the poem, of the publication or its organization. Those who retrieved the poem did not record the woman's name nor is there a year attached, but that is not important. This is a cry from the heart, whoever wrote it, to not be made invisible in old age ~ http://www.timegoesby.net/weblog/2004/09/crabby_old_lady.html]
~In loving memory of Tata~
Deeply missed and remembered...