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1 Reviews
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 KarenAK rated 13 months ago-
See the video clip - very touching. Reminds me of my grandma. And remember: You too will be old one day.
ncoutlander sent me this - thank you ! :-)
The picture is from the page Poems and Prose
Old Lady's Poem
When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Dundee, Scotland, it was felt that she had nothing left of any value. Later, as the nurses were going through her meager possessions, they found this poem. It's quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Ireland. The old lady's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the North Ireland Association for Mental Health.
What do you see, nurses, what do you see?
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, and giving me pills
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 the vows that I promised to keep
At twenty-five now, I have young of my own
Who need me to provide them a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, my young now growing fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone
But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.
At sixty 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 and 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 woman...and nature is cruel
'Tis jest to make old people 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...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 woman; look closer.....
See me !
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