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Posted on 04/30/2009 10:03:17 PM PDT by JustAmy
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A good friend sent me this, I pass it on.
When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Dundee
Scotland, it was believed that she had nothing left of any value.
Later, when the nurses were going through her meagre possessions, they
found this poem. Its 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. A slide
presentation has also been made based on her simple, but eloquent, poem.
And this little old Scottish lady, with nothing left to give to the
world, is now the author of this ‘anonymous’ poem winging across the Internet:
Crabby Old Woman
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, .............. 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 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 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 are gone,
But my 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 husband is 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 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 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!!
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!
Mr.B has been out of town for a few days and just got home 2 hours ago, so have been visiting with him; dogs are happy now, too - all is well, everyone is where they're supposed to be. :)
We found that the tours are great, and not expensive at all. And their metro system is fabulous (except for trying to figure out how to get the darned tickets out of automated machine - remember, Amy? LOL)
But, most impressive, the night of the Inaugural Ball, Amy and Marissa and I rode the metro from DC to our hotel, which was out past Dulles (JFK?) airport somewhere, at 1:00 AM by ourselves and felt quite safe. The Metro, as we were told by a DC attorney/resident is monitored by many cameras. Anyone who commits any crime on the DC Metro is captured from all directions on tape, convicted and never sees the light of day again. Criminals go elsewhere to commit their crimes. It is amazing in such a high crime area to feel so safe on the Metro system.
Oh my..So moving..Thank you, Billie.
No, those flowers are deep pink ground roses, sometimes called "carpet roses". Very easy to grow, but a pain to prune.
We will remember..Thank you for this beautiful tribute.
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Indeed! Thank you for these..
PBS is having a special tonight on “Hallowed Ground”..It’s promo says we have in eight countries, 22 cemetaries, a total of 125,000 buried. They died ..(my addition)..so that others may be free..
Never Forget!(though others may)
I forgot to post that the total is in Europe only.
So many take their freedoms for granted without a thought to the price that has been paid.
I had my son and daughter in law with me today..It was a surprise visit so I had to shine up the castle, of course ,on short notice..That is why I am so late posting.
This is a beautiful Memorial Day Thread.
Thanks for this, Dubya, that Memorial is truly something! I would love to see it in person some day.
I’ve heard the stories of all these men who died and have viewed one cemetary at a time, but its great to see them all put together. Our country’s military has done more for this world than they’re ever given credit for and have never been thanked enough. And some dems made fun of us when we called our french fries...’freedom fries’, when France wouldn’t help us in Iraq. All of those graves....so sad.
Seeing all the cemeteries and the fatality count in one place is very sobering, isn’t it?
Thank God for these American heroes.
This reminds me of when our enemies (domestic and foreign) accuse us of being imperialistic and taking over their land, we said , no, just enough of your land to bury our dead. God bless them all.
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