AN OLD LADY'S POEM
What are you thinking when you're looking at me?
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
uncertain of habit,
with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles 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 stocking 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 girl of sixteen...
with wings on her feet,
dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty...
my heart gives a leap,
remembering vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now...
I have young of my own,
who need me to guide a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty...
my young now grown fast,
bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty...
my young sons have grown and gone,
but my husband'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 husband is dead.
I look at the future, I shudder with dread.
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 woman...
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 girl 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...
Too few, gone to fast.
I accept the stark fact that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, nurse, open and see...
Not a crabby old woman;
look closer...see ME!!
Anonymous
Remember this poem (found, written by a woman in a rest home) the next time you meet an elderly person.
Look at the young soul within.
We will one day be there, too!!
You may be only one person in the world,
but you may also be the world to one person!
Don't cry because it's over;
smile because it happened!
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